After the Fall (Rewritten)
by AftertheFallXIII
Summary: Lightning Farron must lead the people to a new home on Gran Pulse. But when a lurking evil makes itself known, the L'Cie must go back to fighting their fate with their new allies. (Multiple Final Fantasy characters make appearances)
1. Prologue

**After the Fall: Rewritten**

 **AN: (Tentative wave) Hey guys. It has literally been years. A lot has happened, and after a month of a simple plot bunny going awry in my head until I actually set my mind to it, I have decided to come back and rewrite the After the Fall series. (I was previously known on here as CTG91295, but I changed my username) Now it's going to be different then last time, because I now know how the story is going to go from start to finish. This story includes other Final Fantasy characters, and I believe you are going to enjoy reading it, just as much as I am going to enjoy writing it.**

The world was empty. Barren. Nothing left but the saddening screams of dying souls. From his tower, Chaos was able to see the destruction of the world of Cocoon, Gran Pulse and beyond. He has won. The god of discord's dark red muscular form was sat in his golden throne. Four of his arms crossed in content.

This was it. This was the end. The faces on his knees screamed in agony as he rose from his seat and approached his captured heroes, laying in defeat on his floor. The powers were draining from them. His wings sprouted from behind his back and his tail swished as he walked.

Cosmos layed, motionless in the center of the throne room, and Chaos stepped over her like she was simply part of his decor. Lightning exchanged eye contact with fellow comrade Noel Kreiss.

Perhaps the only comrade she has left, if Snow and the others aren't dead by now. Lightning prayed that they were still alive, but everything seemed bleak. Chaos reached for her neck, a short scream emitting from her mouth.

"Lightning!" Noel croaked out, struggling to stand on his feet, but his wounds were severe. He reached for his crystal inside the palm of his hand and attempted to summon Leviathan. But Chaos shot the hunter down the tower, the crystal clattering to the floor.

"Noe..." Lightning could barely finish her sentence. She could barely see Fang and Vanille from down below heading for the tower to rescue her. She wanted to scream at them to not come up here. Serah was not here! It was a trick!

She had no choice but to look Chaos in the face and accept her fate. He laughed at her surrender and was getting ready for the final blow when suddenly, Cosmos rose to her feet and shot at the beast, and everything was engulfed in white.

 _Five years prior..._

Everything was white...but Lightning could not move.

 _"Guys!"_ Lightning heard a familiar voice speak out seemingly beside her.

" _Snow?"_ That was weird, she didn't open her mouth. How was she talking? Where was she?

 _"Hey what's going on?"_ Sazh followed. " _Where are we?"_

A husky chuckle followed Sazh's slight panick. " _You're in crystal stasis, you silly old man."_ Fang responded.

 _"Crystal stasis?"_ Hope replied. " _How long are we going to stay here?"_

 _"As long as Cocoon stands."_ Vanille responded.

 _"Oh..."_ Snow sighed.

Both the Oerban girls giggled. " _That's just for Vani and I."_

 _"The rest of you, need to wake up."_

A warm feeling engulfed Lightning, and soon, the whiteness went away and she was greeted by the sight of the Gran Pulse sunset that she loved so much. Lightning felt feeling return to her limbs and realized she could move again. The rest of her comrades were also recovering from their crystal stasis.

She then saw it. Coccoon. It was beautiful yet sad at the same time. It was barely holding on by a crystal pillar, all the power was shut down. "They did it." Lightning confirmed. "They...saved the world."

"No." Snow was coming up behind Lightning. "They gave us a new one."

Sazh smiled, the chocobo chick relaxed snugly in his afro. "That's one gift I would forgive not wrapping." The rest of the party chuckled.

 _"This is as much as we can do."_ Vanille's voice echoed in their heads, sounding much further away now and fading. _"The rest is up to you."_

"Does this mean we completed our focus?" Hope asked.

Lightning in the far distance could see PSICOM approaching the L'Cie. As well as two supposed civilians approaching. A little boy that looked like...Sazh...

Lightning's voice caught in her throat as Serah looked up, meeting eyes with her. She smiled and waved. "Serah." Lightning finally spoke, and Snow's head snapped up.

Serah pointed towards Sazh, "Hey, Dajh. Look there. Look who it is."

Dajh gasped and was already sprinting just as Sazh was. "Daddy! Daddy!"

"Dajh!" Sazh never ran faster in the entirety of the journey, Lightning couldn't help but chuckle. But her heart filled with warmth at the sight. Snow was screaming Serah's name as he too was already barreling over to her.

While they were having their reunions, Lightning glanced over at Hope who was looking down at the grass. "They're gone." He whispered.

Lightning knew he became close to Vanille. And though she never would admit it, she never had a bestfriend growing up...and she would definitely consider Fang one.

Lightning sighed. _I think she knows._ She rested a hand on Hope's shoulder and pulled him closer to her. "Hey." She whispered reassuredly as the two began walking towards the others.

"I guess they meant for this to be Goodbye." He said, resting his head on Lightning's shoulder, she welcomed the gesture. "Then again, we changed our fates before."

Lightning then spotted the last of the airships landing. "Hope, maybe your father made it out."

Hope glanced up at Lightning with a smile, and she couldn't help but return it. When she looked up Serah was running towards her for an embrace.

She was so warm, not at all like she was crystalized for weeks. Yet again, Lightning was also in crystal stasis. "I missed you." Serah whispered, tears trickling down her shoulder.

Lightning buried her nose in Serah's shoulders. She still smelled like strawberries. "Serah. I'm sorry for everything." She pulled away, and Serah brushed a strand of Lightning's hair behind her ear, while the elder Farron wiped away Serah's tears.

Snow then intervened. "Hey! The apologies can wait! We got a wedding to plan!"

"You don't waste any time." Hope added.

Dajh gasped in excitement. "A wedding. I never went to wedding!"

"You're all invited." Snow confirmed. Dajh clapped his hands together in excitment.

Snow looked down seriously at Lightning, holding Serah in his arms. "I swear to you, I will make her happy."

Lightning smiled at the couple. "I believe you."

"Come on," Sazh said. "Let's go see if these PSICOM people or anybody need our help. Know what that is Dajh." He pointed towards Cocoon. "That's our home. Must be your first time seeing it from the outside, huh?"

"Yeah." Dajh nodded, burrowing himself in his father's afro.

"It reminded me of you. And why I had to go on." Snow told his soon to be wife.

Hope and Lightning walked in a companionable silence as the others were talking animatedly with their loved ones. The soldier stopped walking as Hope absentmindedly walked ahead.

She then had a flash.

 _"It's all your fault!"_

 _"Serah! Let her go you bastard!"_

 _"DADDY!"_

 _"Hope no!"_

 _"Light, I'm sorry."_

 _"It's all over!"_

 _"You failed..."_

"Light?" The soldier was knocked out of her reverie. A new focus? "Light? Are you okay?"

The soldier looked over at Hope who seemed concerned. Lightning shook her head. "Um, nothing. Don't worry. I'm fine. I was just...still waking up."

"You sure?" Hope asked as Lightning walked quickly in front of him.

"Yeah. I'm sure."

One of the last ships landed. One of the PSICOM soldiers turned and saw the approaching L'Cie and aimed their guns. "It's them! It's their fault Cocoon fell!"

Many of the PSICOM officers aimed their guns. Sazh put Dajh down and behind him, while Serah did the same with Snow. Lightning instinctively reached a hand out to Hope who was about to draw his boomerang.

"What are you doing! My son is there!" Bartholomew pushed through the soldiers. Bartholomew's slicked back hair was now messy and over his eyes, he had a full beard, and was only wearing a loose button up. He looked like he went through hell.

"Dad." Hope ran to his father and the two embraced.

One of the PSICOM soldiers (surprisingly the only one who did not have his gun raised) took his helmet off revealing a man with long dark hair tied in a ponytail, he looked like he could be around Sazh's age. "Guys, come on. They saved us."

The leader of the PSICOM who gave the order unmasked himself, he had long white hair also in a ponytail and was also a similar age. "Saved us. They took away our homes. Now we are stranded on Gran Pulse, with no fuel in the ships."

"Your ships are out of fuel?" Lightning demanded to know.

Rygdea appeared in the ship that Bartholomew exited from. "Yeah, we only had just enough to get 300 civilians, and a handful of PSICOM and Guardian Corps. Anyone who is not in Bodhum, PalumPolum, or Eden are either dead, lost, or still on Cocoon. But with the Fal'Cies down...looks like we have a new home."

Two hoverbikes arrived from Cocoon's atmosphere, team NORA.

"Guys!" Snow exclaimed, reunited with his team. "Glad you made it out."

"Is there fuel?" One of the PSICOM officers asked.

"Um, well we have just enough to get from here," Maqui pointed to where one of the bikes was. "To there." He pointed to one of the airships.

The officer huffed in annoyance. "What are we supposed to do. Where are all these civilians going to live."

"Don't get your pants in a knot." Sazh argued. "We all happen to know a place where it is safe, we can get food, and there are actual houses."

The dark haired unmasked PSICOM officer rose an eyebrow.

"Oerba." Lightning answered.

"Doesn't matter if there is plumbing." one of the officers argued. "It's still Gran Pulse."

"How far is this place?" The dark haired officer asked.

"A week on foot." Snow informed them.

"Great. We're not going to make it that far. What about food?" The leader officer asked.

"There are plenty of fiends here for us to hunt." Lightning answered.

"So let me get this straight. You expect us to trust you and your L'Cie freaks to take us to a 'safe place', and to provide us food and water." The man got in her face. "I'm afraid I can't trust a woman who quit the Guardian Corps."

Lightning's face scrunched up in annoyance.

"Then trust us." A familiar voice sounded as a round Guardian Corps lieutenant followed by a handful of his soldiers that Lightning was acquainted with came into the conversation.

"Lieutenant Amodar." Lightning saluted.

"At ease, Farron. You're not a soldier anymore. You _did_ quit. Remember?"

Lightning dropped her hand in slight embarassment, but Amodar clapped her back reassuringly. "But I would always trust Sergeant Farron with my life. The Guardian Corps is with you. And if you need any help, just let me know."

Behind Amodar, Snow gave Lightning a goofy thumbs up.

The PSICOM leader sighed. "Very well, it seems we have no other choice. I am Major Light Brody. My men here are Commander Cecil Harvey, Captain Laguna Loire, and Cadet Reks Ratsbane. As Lieutenant Amodar has previously stated...our men are also at your disposal."

"Thank you." Amodar nodded. "Lead, the way Farron."

Lightning suddenly felt the pressure hit as the other civilians overheard that Lightning was the appointed leader. It was different when there were just five other party members...but being in charge of the survival of these people...she swallowed once. "Everyone, we are headed to the village of Oerba. There are houses, places to hunt for food, land to grow vegteables, and fresh water. Believe it or not...we also have plumbing there." She made eye contact with Reks Ratsbane, who she recognized brought up that claim.

"You heard the lady!" Rygdea patted the head of the airship to get everyone else's attention. "Let's see our new home."

Lightning led the people towards the Faultwarrens, and Hope began to chuckle. "What?" She asked curiously.

"The Major's name is Light."


	2. The Mysterious Hunter

**After the Fall**

 _ **The Mysterious Hunter**_

The following day, the Cocoon survivors finally arrived in the faultwarrens. This is where the Titan's throne is located, as Lightning recalled. She requested Amodar to call in a small group of volunteers to help clear a way for the other civilians to pass through, informing him of the dangerous creatures that roam these woods.

As well as adding that they were basically in the nest of the most dangerous Fal'Cie in all of Gran Pulse. "But with the Fal'Cies gone," Lightning quickly calmed the agitated volunteers. "Titan should not be a problem. However, there are still beasts that gather here."

Lightning, Snow, Gadot, Lebreau, and a young PSICOM officer, Reks Ratsbane, were gathered as Lightning explained their game plan. The cadet drew his sword and gestured behind Lightning. She turned around and a very petite young woman approached the party, brandishing her own rapier.

"I would like to join the monster hunt." She informed them.

Lightning exchanged a look with the NORA members.

"What is your name?" Snow asked in a friendly but surprisingly profressional tone.

"Terra Branford."

"What do you do?" Lebreau added.

Terra smiled sheepishly. "Truth be told, I am simply a highschool teacher. But I have trained in swordplay all my life."

It seemed odd, perhaps the woman was from Eden, Lightning thought. A wealthy family, where sword training was easiar to get access to if you were not a soldier or mercenary of some kind. The fact that she had one at all, and it appeared to have a unique design. She gave a friendly smile. "Alright. We need more help."

"Welcome, Terra." The dark haired rebel greeted the woman warmly. "I'm Lebreau. And these big oafs here are Snow and Gadot."

"Heya!"

"Nice to meet you."

Terra nodded accordingly. "And you are?" She referred to the other newbie.

"I am Cadet Reks Ratsbane of PSICOM." He gave an awkward bow, not sure how to introduce himself.

"And I'm Ser- Lightning Farron." Lightning caught sight of Terra watching Snow check his brand. The brands were fizzled out, similar to Fang's, so they still had their L'Cie power. Lightning noticed how Reks wearily watched as well as Snow's arm lit up with magic.

Gadot and Lebreau also seemed a little uncomfortable with their friend's abilities, but Lebreau was the one to reach out and touch Snow's wrist. "Wow, it's cold. Guess it'd be kind of awkward if you had any other powers, huh?" She joked.

"Looks like you have visitors." Terra spoke up, referring to Serah and two other young people heading in their direction.

Serah embraced Snow, and the larger man rubbed her fizzled out L'Cie brand in comfort. "Stay safe." She whispered. The two stared longingly in each other's eyes.

"Ugh," Gadot groaned. "Get a room!"

Serah giggled at Snow's friend's response as the two began to rough house. Reks was in a small argument with one of the boys that came over. "Why can't I come with you." the younger boy told the PSICOM cadet.

"I tried telling him, Reks. It's too dangerous in this place." She was clinging onto the boy's arm.

"Vaan," Reks clapped a hand on the younger boy's shoulder. "Someone's gotta watch out for Penelo."

The girl, Penelo, Lightning assumed, clinged tighter to Vaan's arm, seeming terrified of everything. When she caught sight of Lightning, she whimpered slightly, and Vaan seemed annoyed by the girl's grip. "Fine. You always get all the fun."

"Vaan, let's get back to the others...where it's safe." Penelo whimpered, dragging the boy away.

Reks looked back, seeming embarassed. "Erm, my brother and sister."

"Their cute." Terra responded gently.

"Welp!" Lebreau clapped her hands together, then pulled out her assault rifle. "Let's get to hunting."

After much patrolling and fighting the littler monsters, Lightning took a notice to Terra's fighting ability. It wasn't like she just learned swordplay. It was like she used it all her life. She was graceful on the battlefield, like she was performing a dance rather than fighting. The soldier had to admit, it was impressive to watch.

And it takes a lot to impress the stoic soldier. Snow even took a notice to the "teacher's" abilities. "Is it just me...or is she really good with that blade?" He questioned.

Once Terra helped take down another creature (that Reks was struggling with) she twirled, and shook the blood off her blade. "Where did you say you learned to fight?" Lightning asked.

Terra seemed slightly panicked, pulling up the sleeve of her thin floral jacket. "I uh...learned from my father. He too was also a swordsman. He's...gone now."

"During the fall?" Gadot asked.

"Uh, no. Long, long before that."

"I've never seen someone fight like that ever in my life." Lebreau said in awe. "It's was beautiful."

Terra blushed at the compliment. "Why, thank you. I never really considered myself a good fighter."

 _Sword fighting is an art form. You would have to spend every day and hours training to be flawless on the battlefield. And against these creatures._ Lightning thought to herself. _Reks is a cadet, but even he appeared to have strained endlessly to fight like he does. For someone to claim to not be a fighter...how is it you fight so effortlessly. What are you hiding?_

Snow peered over to see Lightning staring at Terra intently. "Uh, Sis. You alright?"

"Huh." Lightning shook her head. "Oh, sorry. I was just tired."

A little of ways, Lightning caught sight of a Gurangatch, armadillon. She shushed the loud party members, and ducked behind a rock. "Heavy monster, straight ahead."

Gadot made a strange noise in the back of his throat. "Dammit, he's got a shell on. We ain't gonna be able to break that."

"You are forgettin'," Snow laughed, cracking his knuckles. "We're L'Cie. We got this in the bag."

"Preemptive strike. You ready?" Lightning whispered. Once all the party members were in agreement, they all charged at the armadillon.

"Just stagger the beast and it should be a piece of cake from there."

Gadot fired his shotgun, cracking the outer shell, similar to Cocoon. Lebreau took the initiative and kept firing her assault rifle. Once it was staggered, Snow launched the beast in the air. Lightning and Terra jumped up, and just as gracefully, the rapier wielder was able to take it down in one swipe. She landed on her feet effortlessly.

Lightning looked down at her dumbfounded. _No way...this woman is an expert swordswoman._

She landed on her feet as the beast was defeated. "Good job, gang." Snow congradulated as they moved on ahead.

About an hour later, Rygdea was discussing plans with Sazh and Bartholomew. The afro head man sketched out a diagram of Oerba, pointing out the residential areas, the school house, and other points of interests, while Serah was getting to know Hope Estheim.

She was surprised to learn how close the boy had gotten to her cold sister, and he gotten a juicy story about Lightning when she was his age. She apparently was the Queen of Mischief in her younger days, always trolling the other kids, and playing practical jokes on their father. Hope couldn't wait to bring it up with his favorite Guardian Corps soldier.

Tagging along were Reks's siblings Vaan and Penelo. The boy was trying so hard to cheer his twin sister up, but she seemed very determined to remain depressed. Serah took it upon herself to help the siblings out. "Hey, Penelo, is it?" She greeted. "Do you want to talk about it."

Penelo shied away from her defiantly, her eyes narrowing at the L'Cie brand that still remained on the pink haired girl's arm. "Don't worry, I won't hurt you." She reassured.

"It's your fault our parents are dead." Penelo accused.

Both Serah and Hope's face fell.

"Hey, Penelo. That's not fair." Vaan lectured. "They are just like you and me. And they are helping us now."

"Vaan, our parents are dead because Cocoon fell. We just have ourselves and Reks. Things are never going to be alright."

"I'm sorry about your parents." Hope apologized. "But we will keep you safe. Nobody else will have to die."

"Lieutenant Amodar!" A Guardian Corp soldier exclaimed. "Hostiles incoming!"

"I thought the L'Cie were handling them!" One of the women cried.

"Run for your life!" One panicking civilian screamed and everyone was in an uproar as packs of Amams attacked the civilians. Some had weapons and were able to protect the other defenseless ones. The Guardian Corps and PSICOM went straight into action.

"Vaan!" Penelo exclaimed.

The brother drew his own sword, "Serah,"

"Don't worry, Vaan!" Serah took her hand. "We'll stay out of the way."

Hope drew his boomerang and he and Vaan went back to back, readying themselves for the attack.

Amodar pulled out gatling gun, startling Rygdea, Sazh, and Bartholomew. "Where the hell did you get that from!?" Rygdea exclaimed.

"It don't matter! You know where your boy is Katzroy!"

Sazh looked down and noticed his son was nowhere in sight. "Aw, sh- DAJH!"

Bartholomew followed the panicking father and Rygdea also pulled out his rifle, just as Amodar let his gun rip. "Careful, with that thing! You almost took my eye out!"

"Hope!" Bartholomew and Sazh ran towards Hope and Vaan as they were fighting off a beast.

"Hey, kid, is Dajh with you!"

"No." Hope looked back at Serah who was holding a crying Penelo. "We thought he was with you."

"He was but he must have ran off-"

Hope threw his boomerang just as a beast was pouncing at his father from behind. The Amam squeaked as it was slashed by the weapon, and it returns to Hope just as the older Estheim realized what had happened.

"I think I see him!" Serah pointed ahead.

Dajh was looking around frantically for his father, the chocobo chick panicking next to him. A beast lurched for the young boy. "DAJH!"

"Daddy! Ah-" Dajh was knocked out of the way by a tan blonde man who grabbed him up at the last second. Rygdea shot down the beast from afar.

The man 'delivered' the boy to Sazh. "Oh, Thank you so much!"

"No problem. I'm a dad too!" The man searched for through the chaos, just as a whistle sounded and he disappeared within the chaos again.

A beast leaped at Serah, knocking her back a few yards. She kept her leg up, keeping the beast from biting her neck. "AH! Help!"

The beast was slashed from behind and went down easily. A man with brown hair wearing strange clothes was upon her, dual swords drawn. He reached down to the girl and helped her to her feet. "You alright."

"You saved me." She gasped as Hope came to her aid.

"Hey, Serah, you hurt?" He asked.

She looked down at her skinned knee, blood dripping. Hope reached a hand out and healed her wound right up.

"Can you fight?" The man asked, just as a weird plush creature joined him. Hope was distracted by the floating toy as the man and Serah talked.

"No."

"Might want to start if you want to live. Mog." The man demanded.

The creature, Mog, giggled and waved his staff. He transformed himself into a pink bow and landed in Serah's hand. "I-I don't know how to use a bow and arrow." She exclaimed.

"Don't worry. Leave it to Mog. Just aim and shoot." The man ran off to fight, but Hope remained with Serah. As another beast came through, Serah aimed her bow and shot the creature square in the eye.

"Oh! I got him."

Lightning heard the chaos and returned back as quickly as possible. The first thing she did was look for her sister.

"Serah!?" Snow exclaimed.

"If your looking for the girl that looks like you," the strange man from before said. "She's over there fighting."

"Fighting?!" Lightning questioned. They followed the strange man as she was quickly taking down beasts with a bow. _Where the hell...is there like a super advanced battle class I was not aware of?_

"Claire! Snow!" Serah gasped when she saw her loved ones returned, just as the bow returned to the plush moogle.

"What on Gran Pulse is even happening?" Lightning couldn't help but ask.

By now, the beasts were getting finished off by a Guardian Corps soldier. "That is the last of them...hopefully." He said.

Serah looked around and found Penelo running to Reks, embracing him. "I was so scared. I thought we were going to die."

"Don't worry, sis, we're safe for now."

The strange man from before was about to speak, but a PSCOM Officer, Commander Harvey, drew a sword behind this man's back. "This gentleman is not of Cocoonian origin."

"What are you talking about?" Sazh questioned.

"You saying he is a native?" A Guardian Corps soldier spoke up.

"I thought all the pulsians died out?" Reks questioned.

"Not all..." The pulsian native spoke up.

"Who are you?"

"My name's Noel. Noel Kreiss."

"Are you here alone?" Lightning continued to ask.

"Yes. I was hunting here, when I overheard people. After Cocoon fell, I was expecting outsiders."

"You came to kill us?" Major Brody asked.

Noel seemed offended by the question. "No, I was curious. I've lived here all by myself...I was happy there were people here. If I was here to kill you, I would not have saved her." He pointed towards Serah. "How on Gran Pulse did you think you can come here and not know how to defend yourself?"

"We're asking the questions here," Major Brody spat angrily, seeming offended that he was losing control of the situation.

"I promise, I mean no harm. If anything...I want to help you. Where are you headed?"

"I said we're asking the questions."

"Brody..." Captain Laguna spoke up. "Chill...the kid does not seem to mean any harm."

"He is pulsian. We are to assume he is hostile until otherwise."

"We're not on Cocoon. If anything, he has the right to assume we're hostile."

"There's more of us."

Noel throughout the whole interrogation seemed bored, and Reks had his sword trained on the floating moogle. _If Lightning were to be honest, she was more weary of a strange floating toy zooming around._

"Stop!"

Everyone looked at Serah in surprise. "He saved my life. And he helped during the attack. I say we be kinder to him."

"Yeah, I agree." Noel nodded.

"Silence!" Brody spat again. He grumbled as he lowered his sword. "Let's just focus on getting out of these nests. Once we're in Oerba...then we will go through with the questioning."

"Fine...whatever." Noel mumbled.

Everyone continued their journey and Serah approached the hunter. "Um, thank you again for saving me."

"No problem..." He winked at her and went on ahead. Serah blushed at his friendliness.


	3. The Wyvern

**After the Fall**

 **The Wyvern**

Noel Kreiss proved to be a helpful ally in the ever growing party. Lightning was surprised she never met the man while exploring Gran Pulse just a few days before Cocoon fell. Then again, Gran Pulse was a huge world, and it would be mere luck that they even met now.

His story made sense. He was a lone hunter, saw the planet that spent so long in the sky fall, and he wanted to check it out. Lightning watched the man speak animatedly with her sister and Snow, seeming to enjoy having people around once more.

Major Brody seemed ever weary of the Pulse native, a seemingly permanent agitated expression on his face. At night, the lone hunter even offered to take a night shift with one of the soldier's while everyone slept. Of course the Major ignored Noel's act of kindness.

In response, Noel ignored the Major's authority and joined Captain Firion Avoy of the Guardian Corps in the first watch. Most of the other soldiers did not seemed at all bothered by the hunter, and have quickly accepted him as part of their own, which surprised Lightning after believing they hated Gran Pulse.

The following morning, Lightning was woken up to the smell of sizzling amam meat. She stretched and pushed herself off the tree trunk she was lying against and approached the fire where Mog (Noel's moogle companion) was happily stirring on top of a stone over the campfire, singing to himself.

When he spotted the stoic soldier approaching he smiled. "Good morning, kupo! Breakfast is almost ready."

Lebreau returned to the campfire with more firewood. "Ain't he the cutest thing!" she cooed.

Lightning then heard thumping sound coming from around the corner. While Lebreau and Mog were cooking breakfast, the soldier decided to investigate.

Of course, it had to be Noel, along with another strange male civilian Lightning didn't recognize with Dajh and two other boys, one appearing to belong to that said man.

Sazh was watching quietly on the side. "What's going on?" Lightning asked taking a seat next to her companion.

"Tidus is gonna teach the kids how to play blitzball." The older man seemed pretty excited. "Must be a dream come true."

"To learn blitzball?" Lightning questioned.

Sazh stared at the soldier like she grew an eye on her forehead. "Girl, do you know who he is!? That's star player of the Abes. Son of the founder himself! He's Tidus Zanarkand!"

Lightning rose an eyebrow, but then the name rung a bell. She remembered her father being a big blitzball fan. She never really cared for sport teams, but she did enjoy watching her dad unwind after a hard day's work on duty and cheer for the Abes. In fact, she remembered him being a fan of Tidus's father. What was the name? Jack? Jeck-Jecht! Jecht Zanarkand! The said star player himself approached the two chattering L'cie with a blue blitzball. "Hey, you two, any of you up for a game?"

"I'm too old." Sazh groaned.

Dajh ran to Sazh and began yanking him up by the arm. "Come on, daddy!"

"Yeah, come on, 'daddy'." Tidus jeered.

"Hey!" Sazh laughed as his son led him to where Noel was play fighting with one of the young boys.

Tidus tossed the ball and cocked his head to the side at Lightning. "How about you, Sarge?"

"I think I'll pass." Lightning said with her arms crossed.

"Come on, we need more female players."

"I have to scout."

"Alright, fine, responsible adult lady." His eyes flickered to the right and he tossed his blitzball at top speed. "Think fast kid!"

A tall teenager talking to another quickly caught the ball, his female companion squeaking.

"Grab your sister and join the game, kid."

Lightning joined Major Brody and Commander Harvey as they were inspecting the Manhabara Subterra's entrance. "What's going on?" The soldier asked.

"We have a situation with what appears to be a wyvern. It passed over our camp twice. We have reason to believe that it has a nest on that mountain top."

The Major pointed to the top of the pass near the entrance. Lightning barely noticed the tail as it retreated to the top of Heaven's Mountain. "And?"

"It needs to be slayed. It could be breeding. And that could be dangerous."

"We also heard that it is a regular in Oerba by that pulsian." Commander Harvey added.

Lightning rose an eyebrow. "You want us to climb the top of Heaven's Mountain...to kill a wyvern that may have babies...to protect the civilians."

"We do not want a repeat of yesterday." Harvey said.

"Besides...we never dealt with these wyverns."

"So I will be dealing with these creatures." Lightning sighed. "Of course."

Luckily, Maqui was able to salvage some supplies from his network, 'Lenore's Garage'. He handed the climbing supplies to Snow.

"I can't believe the Major is making you climb a mountain to fight a wyvern." Hope complained.

"You really didn't have to come, Hope." Lightning informed the fourteen year old. "In fact, I would much rather do this alone."

"Light...you're planning on taking on a wyvern on top of a mountain, by yourself."

"You coming with me will make things better?" Lightning questioned.

"I am the healer."

The three L'Cie approached the mountainside.

"I've seen you climb, Estheim. You couldn't even clamber over a log."

"Alright, Sis," Snow laughed. "Let's work together on this. Ladies first."

"Hope should go first since he is the lightest." Light responded practically as she tested the equipment, as Snow handed it to her.

He laughed. "I was actually referring to Hope."

Lightning couldn't help the grin that broke on her face as Hope frowned at a toothy Snow. "Oh, hahaha, you're such a comedian, Snow." Hope muttered as he tied the rope around his waist.

Meanwhile, Serah and Mog joined the growing audience as the friendly blitzball game started to heat up. On Tidus' s team was Sazh, Dajh, and Tidus's own son, Inu. On Noel's side was a ten year old boy named Harry, a seventeen year old girl named Marlene, and a nineteen year old boy named Denzel.

On Noel's team, their group huddled. "Okay, guys. We are against two old guys and a couple of toddlers."

"I can outrun the adults." Denzel offered.

"We can go easy on the kids." Marlene offered.

"I'm going to destroy them all!" Harry suddenly proclaimed.

"...alright then." Noel added awkwardly.

Meanwhile, Tidus' s team…

"Alright, team. Inu, you're gonna grab the ball and pass it to Sazh. Dajh, you distract the older kids. Sazh you're gonna throw it to me at the halfway line, and I will take the shot."

"...can we just run in circles?" Dajh asked innocently.

"...yeah, we can do that." Sazh confirmed.

"I like that plan!" Tidus laughed. "Okay! 1, 2, 3, break!"

Serah watched happily as everyone enjoyed the blitzball game. She momentarily excused herself to use the restroom when she heard a girl's voice crying.

"I can't. I am so weak."

Serah listened closer to the voice, and Penelo almost startled her when she came around the corner. "Penelo...who were you talking to?"

The blonde girl had obviously been crying, but she looked at Serah like she asked the most obvious question. "Uh...myself." She quickly scurried away before Serah could question her more.

Maybe it was none of her business, but she felt like her older brother would want to know. Being a younger sibling herself, she knew that if someone caught her at a moment of weakness, she would want Lightning to know because then she would be worrying her and she hated when Lightning worried. But she felt like something was very wrong with Penelo, so she searched for the platinum haired PSICOm cadet, and found talking (or rather flirting) with Terra Branford (who seemed only to pretend to be interested).

"Reks, can I talk to you?" Serah asked. "In private."

Terra and Reks seemed surprised by Serah's statement. The two never interacted before now, and most likely Reks was merely curious as to what the younger Farron had to say, so he excused himself and Terra (happily) left the two be. "What's up?" He asked casually.

"It's about your sister." She informed him.

His attitude quickly changed to a familiar worried older sibling tone. "Is she alright, where is she?"

"She's with Vaan I think now, but I kind of caught her talking to herself and crying."

Reks sighed. "Yeah, she's not handling anything really well. And there is nothing I can really do to help. Neither can Vaan. We know nothing of Gran Pulse, so we don't know what to say to her that would be comforting. She never used to be like this she was always strong, but yet again, that was back when our parents were still alive. It's still taking a toll on her."

Serah sighed. "I'm sorry about your parents. And Penelo does seem like a sweet girl. Maybe once we're in Oerba she would find something that can preoccupy her until she is done mourning."

"I hope you're right." Reks said honestly.

Twenty minutes later, the L'Cie trio were almost at the top. It does not sound like much when spoken aloud, but even Lightning felt the fatigue as they got closer to their destination.

She knew her younger companion was exhausted because his breathing got harder, and his movements more sluggish. He even missed a step and Lightning quickly grabbed the back of his shirt to keep him from falling.

"Thanks," he wheezed and pulled himself on top. The rest of the L'Cie reached the top and Snow practically threw himself on his back with a loud sigh.

"Man, where's that wyvern at?"

"It should come through here." Lightning warned her friends, drawing her gunblade. "Be ready."

The trio jumped as something flew onto the top of Heaven's Mountain. A blue blitzball bounced across the rocky surface. "What the…"

Down below, Noel was staring up to where the blitzball disappeared to.

"Way to go, dad." Inu complained.

"Don't worry guys." Tidus reassured. "I'll just climb up and retrieve it."

"Boy! You see how tall that mountain is!" Sazh exclaimed.

"It's no problem. I'm a good swimmer. And swimming is just like climbing."

The teenagers stared at the star player in confusion. "Erm, swimming and climbing are completely different verbs, sir." The boy, Denzel, informed him.

"What's going on?" Serah and Mog returned.

"Tidus kicked the ball too high, and now it is stuck on top of that mountain." Noel informed the younger Farron. "Show off," her muttered under his breath.

"That's not fair!" Tidus exclaimed. "I just wanted to show the kids my signature."

"It looks like the Sublimely Magnificent Jecht Shot Mark III!" Denzel said almost excitedly. He seemed embarrassed that his fanboy was briefly shown, and his friend, Marlene quietly laughed at him.

Tidus's narrowed dangerously but his smile stayed. "No! It's called the Tidus Sharpshooter and I created it!" He stressed on the word 'created'.

"Oh," Serah sighed. "If only there was a way to get it down. You would literally have to c-"

She noticed Tidus staring mischievously at the oblivious moogle. Mog quickly took notice...still oblivious. "What?"

"Here it comes!" Hope warned.

"It's going to pass!" Light exclaimed, "we got to get to it."

"...ahhhhhh..." The sound of screaming started coming in their direction, momentarily distracting them. Suddenly Mog appeared, soaring over the horizon towards the wyvern. "kupokupokupo! Waaaah!"

It was a direct hit, and with enough force, the unsuspecting wyvern skidded across the surface, the L'Cie trio had to jump out the way. The blitzball was knocked over.

The wyvern caught himself, as Mog bounced across the pavement towards Hope.

"Attack!" Lightning charged as the wyvern went in for an attack. She slashed the creature's throat and it let out a blood curdling scream that shook Gran Pulse. It swiped at the soldier, and she leapt over the tall and long beast, shooting multiple times at it's back to try and cripple it.

It didn't seem to do much, but while it was distracted, Snow charged at it and began to punch it with his fists, his sheer strength able to shift the creature. "Entourage!" Snow and Hope switched Paradigms.

"Hold on, I'm party leader!" Lightning argued.

"Steelguard!"

"You always do this, you oaf!"

The wyvern attacked Snow but with his steelguard he only took a small amount of damage. The creature of Gran Pulse attempted to fly, but Hope was quick to throw his boomerang, while holding the shaking moogle.

Adding a lightning spell to it, the wyvern landed once again and was about to slide off the mountaintop onto the camp.

Lightning and Snow dove for it's tail getting dragged along. Hope grabbed a hold of the back of Snow's trenchcoat, and everybody was pulled off. "Everybody hang on!" Lightning exclaimed.

From down below, Tidus was getting lectured by one of PSICOM (since apparently Major Brody was hit in the back of the head with a blitzball while he was drinking some water, causing the man to panic and almost choke, believing they were under attack.)

Noel noticed the incoming wyvern. "Everybody get out of the way!"

The civilians panicked as the wyvern crashed into the camp, causing a huge mess. Snow and Lightning stumbled off and Bartholomew rushed to his son's side, claiming he needed medical attention.

Like Major Brody wasn't already having a bad day, he began screaming at the L'Cie, while Hope struggled against his doting father. "I'm fine, dad. Just some cuts, and bruises. I can use healing magic."

A young woman with brown hair approached the father and son with a first aid kit. "Thank you so much, Miss Yuna." Bartholomew said gratefully to the woman, leaving Hope under her care as she addressed his wounds.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself, Sergeant!" Major Brody hollered.

"She did what you asked, Major." Snow defended his sister in law. "You really thought we were going to be able to take a beast down cleanly. This is not Cocoon. These animals are feral. They come in for the kill and if you don't act fast you get killed. This is a world where strategy does not come into play."

Serah managed to get a hold of Snow's arm, leading him away from the agitated PSICOM. Lightning took notice of some of the civilians reaction to it.

"Mommy, look at me!" Inu climbed onto the dead wyvern's back and his mother looked on in horror just as she finished bandaging Hope up.

"Inu! Get down from there this instant. Tidus get him down fro-"

Her husband was just about to climb up himself until he noticed his wife's glare. "I was uh..getting Inu…?"

Vaan was smiling, inspecting the creature. "This thing is so cool. I hope we see more of these. I hope I can fight them."

"No doubt we will be seeing more Gran Pulse's wildlife." Reks responded.

"I can't." Penelo whimpered. "I can't live in a world where I have to watch out for monsters every minute. I won't be able to rest."

"Don't worry." Noel reassured. "Back when my family and village were still alive, we had hunters who protected the people."

"But how did your village die?" Penelo questioned.

"Cocoonians...and disease."

"Great...that makes me feel so much better."

Looking back on this day, Lightning thought she should have told her what she would always tell Serah, "living in fear is no way to live."

She could have asked her what she did before the fall. Perhaps she can work on the garden, or start up a shop in Oerba. Lightning could have helped her find a reason to live, so she wouldn't feel so useless.

But instead, Lightning thought 'she's a stranger, why should I care'.

Maybe it wouldn't have changed anything, but if Lightning had acted on her actions and helped the poor girl...the following morning.

Lightning was woken up by a scream. It was her sister. "Serah!" She drew her gunblade and searched for her sister. People were already scrambling, responding to the girl's cries.

One of their own was in trouble. By the time Lightning got to her, Snow was carrying an unconscious Serah. Lightning was about to panic when he assured that she merely fainted, then told her to see what the commotion was about.

Lightning pushed aside Tidus and a hysterical woman and gasped. She took several steps back in a mixture of emotions.

Disbelief and guilt.

Guilt because she felt she could have done something. Disbelief because she could not believe Penelo Ratsbane had killed herself.

Especially the way she did too. Lightning could tell she threw herself off of Heaven's Mountain.

What was more disbelieving was...how on Gran Pulse did she get up there? She would have had to climb all the way up. She was even struggling to climb the tall mountain herself, and it didn't appear Penelo had climbing equipment, which seemed even weirder.

Did...somebody help her. Why would they? Still the pieces didn't add up.

Lightning found Reks and Vaan running in their direction. She left the scene, unable to bear witnessing their reactions.

 **AN: I hope this chapter was enjoyable. When I write battle scenes, I kind of pictured how it would play out in game.**


	4. The Manhabara Subterra

**After the Fall**

 **The Manhabara Subterra**

 **AN: I am proud to say we are at the part of the story where it starts to get interesting. lol. Even I had a hard time writing the first three chapters because I know I would have reintroduce the characters and concept, but I promise, this is the chapter where the story starts to form.**

"This is the way, everyone!" Snow and the rest of NORA took point this time around and was leading the Cocoon survivors to the Manhabara Subterra. Noel drew his dual swords. "Be careful, fiends prowl these caves. Best to keep your weapons drawn, and if you are not armed, stay close to somebody who is."

He ran ahead, Snow and the rest following behind him. A busty woman with a green dress was whispering to a tan skin man as Vaan walked ahead of her. "That poor boy, he must feel so lost without his sister clinging onto his arm."

Lightning narrowed her eyes at the woman. Vaan was not that far away from earshot, _He probably can hear you, woman._

Reks sighed for the upteenth time as he drew his sword. He had just finished his scouting shift and was probably hoping to give his sword arm a rest. _Amongst other things._ "Reks," the nurse, Yuna asked him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. I don't need people asking me every hour." He marched past her in an angry stride.

"Cadet." Commander Harvey muttered to the distraught cadet, "control your emotions."

"Hmph." Reks grunted, ignoring his superior officer. Harvey was about to lecture him on respecting authority, but Major Brody just shook his head at him.

"Leave him be, Commander."

A bright light lit up the entrance of the cave, and most of PSICOM reacted, running ahead. "Everyone stand back!"

Lightning and Hope exchanged a look and ran after them. "Everything's fine!" Hope called back. "It's just-"

"What in Etro's name is he doing!?" Major Brody exclaimed as Snow was summoning the Shiva Sisters. Lightning had almost forgot that they were still able to summon their eidolons. Perhaps Snow did too and was now utilizing their abilities.

"It would be faster to scout if I had Shiva." Snow informed the paranoid PSICOM officer.

Gadot and Maqui seemed facinated by Snow's motorcycle. Meanwhile a group, containing that same busty woman from before approached the Eidolon. "It's got faces on it!"

"Blank! Get away from it!" the woman lectured the man, and grabbed Harry's hand (presumbly her son).

"Their harmless." Snow reassured the other civilians who started to enter the Subterra.

Everyone else seemed taken aback, except Rygdea, and Amodar. Surprisingly even Terra seemed at ease with the Eidolon. Vaan showed a slight interest.

The other survivors feared Snow.

"Let's just go." Noel climbed onto the back of the motorcycle, "the quicker we scout, the quicker we are out of harm's way."

The rebel leader and the hunter entered deeper into the Subterra, while that same woman was whining to the same man she was gossiping to. Lightning had it with her, and she was not in the best mood. "These L'Cie are becomin' more suspicous as time goes on. They are probably leadin' us into a trap!"

"That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard come out of your mouth." Lightning spat.

"Light!" Hope gritted his teeth at his mentor.

The woman seemed taken aback by Lightning's comment and the others just stepped back. "Excuse me, missy! Do you not know who I am. I am Ruby Sottie, the greatest actress in the theatre troupe, Tantalus, right boys!"

The rest of the troupe seemed terrified by Lightning. "All I've ever heard you do the entire time is complain and gossip. I usually ignore people like you, but I don't back down when you target me and my friends."

"I have every right to complain! I've got a son to take care of, and I can't have him living off pulsian monster meat everyday!"

"Well get used to it, because that is the life we are headed to!"

"Lightning!" Hope was desperately tugging onto her arm to walk away. "Let's just go."

Lightning didn't know why she became so angry, but she decided to just finish it off here. "Another thing, leave the Ratsbanes be. What happened was horrible, but you gossiping about them is just disrespectful."

Ruby sucked her teeth, and grabbed her son's hand. "Let's go." She barked and stomped ahead, the rest of the troupe following her loyally.

When Lightning turned around she was shocked to see an unamused Amodar and Serah standing behind a sheepish Hope. "Farron, I didn't think I would have to tell you this, but please do not antagonize the survivors."

Lightning sighed, but saluted respectfully. "Yessir."

Amodar walked on ahead, carrying his heavy gatling gun and Serah rejoined Yuna, the moogle following her. Lightning glared down at Hope. "I did try to warn you, Light."

Snow's Eidolon timed out as Noel was left fighting the hoplites. "How the hell do I finish them?" Noel asked.

"You never came across these before?" Snow asked, as he expertly smashed one of them, Noel was struggling with the second one.

"Most of the enemies I encounter are feral beasts. Not machines. I never even came across machines on Gran Pulse. Yet again, I never really gotten this far?"

Snow took apart the machine that Noel was struggling with. "Really?"

"Yeah. I was never ready to venture past the Faultwarrens. Enemies in the Archlyte Steppe were challenging enough."

"But you sounded like you knew Gran Pulse like the back of your hand."

Noel shrugged. "I mean, I heard about what was beyond from my mentor. But...I guess I thought that was enough."

Snow could see shadows behind them, but quickly realized it was the rest of NORA rejoining them. "Who was your mentor?"

Noel smirked. "His name was Caius Ballad. Nobody really knew where he came from. He was just...always there in my village. We were the last survivors of Paddra, along with...Yeul."

"Yeul?" Snow repeated. NORA rejoined them by now and were quietly listening to Noel's story.

"When...when she died...Caius just disappeared, and I was left all by myself. It was like that for months."

"Damn." Gadot sighed. "You had to fend for yourself all by yourself."

Noel's lips twitched. "Well, until I met Mog. I came across him in the Faultwarrens some time a few weeks back. At that point I had gotten really sick. I didn't know how to make potions or how to take care of myself. He was just...there. A little miracle. We became friends."

"What is Mog?" Maqui asked curiously. "A toy? An alien?"

Noel shrugged. "Did you want to take him apart and see how he ticks?" He asked jokingly, but Maqui shook his head frantically.

"No, no, no, I was just-"

"He claims he is a moogle. He says he doesn't remember where he was from or how he got here."

"That's weird." Yuj commented.

"Well, anyway," Noel quickly changed the subject, jumping to his feet and patting his pants down. "We better keep scouting before everyone else catches up."

"Which way are we supposed to go," one of the Guardian Corps soldiers (Lieutenant Luneth Kay, Lightning recalled) asked the L'Cie as everyone approached the multiple entrances.

"It's this way." Lightning recalled.

"Are you sure?" Commander Harvey second guessed.

Lightning narrowed her eyes. "I am pretty sure."

"Pretty sure is not c-"

"I am very very sure." Lightning was quickly losing her patience. She has not caught a break since Cocoon's fall. None of them have...but she was sick and tired of being questioned by PSICOM for every decision.

"You think your friend Snow knows this is the way too." Amodar asked Lightning.

"...yes. We've been to Oerba. He knows this is a way."

Amodar patted Lightning on the back and led the others to the direction Lightning led them to. Sazh and Hope stared expectedly at Lightning. "What?" She questioned.

Sazh and Hope both pointed silently in a tunnel, opposite of where everyone else was going. Ice tracks led deeper into that particular tunnel. Lightning huffed. "Son of a b-"

Gadot patted the inactive Atomos as Snow began pacing. "Hey, boss. We're not lost are we?"

"We're not lost." Snow reassured his gang. "We are just taking a detour."

"For what?" Lebreau questioned. "You always do this Snow. You always get us lost!"

"What? No I don't!"

"Well there was that time in Palumpolum you got us lost in the marketplace," Maqui recalled. "And that other time in Eden, we ended up backstage of a game show,"

"And then there was that time in Bodhum, you got us stranded on an island." Gadot added. "Steering a boat is not the same as riding a bike, boss."

"Wow," Noel couldn't help but comment.

"But we always get out of trouble." Snow reassured the party.

"Let's just retrace our steps." Lebreau requested.

"Fine...Sis is not going to let me live it down."

"They've definitely been here." Sazh informed the party leader as they followed Snow's ice tracks.

"You think we're gonna run into more?" Hope asked.

"They seemed like stragglers." Lightning recalled. "Some of the ones we missed the last time we came here."

"There might be beasts though, stand guard."

The sound of a familiar laughter headed in their direction. "Looks, like she came after you." Gadot joked to Snow.

"Hey, Sis. Looks like we went the wrong way."

"No kidding, we thought we were going to have to look for you." Lightning informed the larger L'Cie.

"It's a dead end." Yuj informed the L'Cie as they made their way back to the main section, the heart of the Subterra if you will.

"I had forgotten, we had originally went that way," Snow explained, "but then, remember, Hope fell into that pit and was almost run over by that Atomos. So then, we walked back and-"

"Walked straight ahead, dammit!" Lightning suddenly, face palmed. "Dammit, dammit, dammit!"

"Calm down, soldiergirl-"

"I sent them right! I told them I was sure, I sent them right, because I remember we went straight but we were supposed to turn left!" Lightning sprinted ahead, drawing her gunblade. "Dammit, dammit, dammit!"

"I thought Farron said this was the way?" Laguna asked, shooting rapidly at the demon Yakshinis that were dancing around the civilians.

"Farron said this was the way. We just gotta take out these things!" Amodar vouched for his soldier, protecting the civilians.

"The woman is not even here!" Ruby complained. "Or any of the other L'Cie! They tried to get us all killed!"

"That's not true!" Serah defended her sister and fiance. "They are not evil!"

"Well, we're going back!" Major Brody ordered. "Retreat!"

"Don't retreat!" Amodar countered.

The civilians were torn. All of PSICOM sided with Brody (including Ruby and the troupe). The nurse, Yuna, and the star player, Tidus also joined PSICOM in the retreat. Bartholomew was torn, but realizing that his son may have been with the pink haired soldier, he picked up Sazh's son and hurried after PSICOM. Serah also retreated, knowing it was safer to stay with the bigger group.

The only ones who stayed were the Guardian Corps (a few of the soldier's wives who also were fighters) Rygdea, Vaan, and Terra.

By the time Lightning got to the main section, PSICOM was just retreating. "You!" Major Brody demanded. "You led us to a dead end, Farron!"

"I know!"

"You know!?"

Hope interjected, interrupting his father who was about to ask if he was alright again. "It was an accident, Major. Last time we came here we took a wrong turn."

"Your accident is going to get your Lieutenant killed!" The Major lectured Lightning. "That's right, your superior still sided with you and stayed behind to fight off those...vile...demon dancer creatures!"

"Okay," Sazh jumped right into action as he took Dajh from Bartholomew and put him on his feet. "We know for certain that the exit is that way!"

"Can we really trust them after they almost got us killed?" One of the troupe questioned.

"I trust Sazh!" Tidus admitted. "If he says that's the exit, then that's the exit."

"Alright," Laguna spoke up, "If everybody trusts Sazh, then raise your hand."

"I'd rather follow him then Sergeant Farron, I must admit." Commander Harvey admitted.

Sazh gave Lightning an apologetic look as everyone was quickly turning on Lightning and Snow and favoring Sazh. _At least it's not against all L'Cie._ "Noel, Snow, we can go ahead and help the Lieutenant and the other Guardian Corps. NORA you help Sazh and Hope lead the civilians out of the Subterra."

Lightning, Noel, and Snow rushed ahead into the tunnel where Lightning's superior was left behind.

"What the hell is that?" One dark haired woman exclaimed as she shot her blaster edge at the creature.

The creature was tall as the Manhabara Subterra itself. It actually had to bend over in order to stand, and his wings were so heavy, it shook the entire cave and pushed the fighters back as it flapped. It reached for Terra, grabbing a hold of her and lifted her off of her feet.

"Take it out!" One Guardian Corp soldier with blonde hair charged at it, wielding a very large and heavy sword and slashed at it's leg. The limb was completely solid and only scratched the surface. The creature did screech however and waved it's giant wing knocking him into Captain Firion, his broadsword and shield clattering next to him.

"Cloud are you alright!?" A long legged woman wearing fighter gloves asked him. The creature went in for another attack but she somersaulted away, dodging the attack.

Vaan was about to attack the wing holding a struggling Terra, but the creature grabbed at him with his other wing. Terra wriggled her shoulders out, slipping out of her silk jacket. Lightning and the others got there just as Amodar was thrown hard against the walls of the Subterra. Lightning reached into her chest and pulled out her Eidolith, summoning Odin. She threw the crystal in the air and jumped up after it, slashing the rose shaped crystal open.

Odin emerged from the crystal and caught Lightning in the air. They managed to save Vaan and Terra, releasing them from the creatures grasp.

"Can somebody explain what that thing is?" The dark haired woman asked once more.

"That is the King Yakshini." Noel informed her, he then caught sight of the smaller Yakshinis being summoned. "Light, you handle the big guy, the rest of us will take on the littler ones.

Terra quickly rushed to Amodar's side, where he was groaning in pain. "I need a medic." Amodar informed her.

"No need." She pressed her hands onto his stomach and let healing magic flow into him, mending his broken bones.

Amodar stared confused at her, until he saw the Cocoon L'Cie brand on her left arm. "You're..."

"There's no time to explain right now. I promise I will later." She reassured the man.

Amodar momentarily ignored Terra's reveal and grabbed hold of the gatling gun. "Everyone down on the ground!"

Everyone dodged as Amodar shot up the Yakshini Nest, the King was staggered, giving Vaan and Cloud a go on it, while Lightning and Odin teamed up to finish him off.

Meanwhile, Sazh finally brought the civilians and PSICOM to the exit, leading to Sulyya Springs. "And we're outta here."

"Thank you so much, Mr. Katzroy." Bartholomew said honestly.

"You are a natural leader." Rygdea added.

"I was just doing what needed to be done." Sazh said almost bashfully.

"Our next move is to go on ahead without the others. They are most likely dead." Major Brody announced.

"They are not!" Hope spoke up angrily.

"Hope!" Bartholmew lectured.

"We still have people back there, we need to go back for them!"

"I'm sure their fine, kid." Sazh reassured Hope. He then spotted Orobons coming onto shore. "Besides, we got some work here."

The ground shook and Serah and Mog quickly hid behind the remaining L'Cie. "What is that!"

The water burst as a huge pudgy creature with two faces on both ends plopped down next to the civilians. "Everybody cross the water!" Major ordered.

"Hope, get my boy out of here!" Sazh quickly nudged Dajh over to the fourteen year old while he drew his dual guns.

"I'm going to stay and fight." Bartholomew informed his son. "You get some of the civilians to the other side."

Hope quickly took on the responsibility, knelting over so Dajh can climb onto his back. "Let's go! Follow me!"

While the Orobons were distracted by the soldiers and other willing fighters, Hope led Serah, Yuna, Tidus and their son, Ruby and the rest of the Theatre troupe across the vast and steaming lake.

Meanwhile with Lightning's party, with the help of Odin, they were able to defeat the Yakshini King. Everybody was tired a breathless.

"Are you alright, Lieutenant?" Lightning asked Amodar.

He sighed, "Lightning...I assume by now you are aware of what your little mistake had caused."

Lightning seemed very embarassed and Snow spoke up on her behalf. "We are very sorry for this error, sir. We promise nothing like this would happen again."

"It better not." Amodar was not happy. "But shifting past this accident, Miss Branford. Is there anything you wish to share with us?"

The female fist fighter noticed the Cocoon brand, "She's a L'Cie!"

Lightning sighed, suspecting something was odd about Terra. Although she would admit, she was surprised as well.

"It is quite a long story." Terra admitted.

"Major hard ass is going to have a field day." Noel added with a laugh.

"Why were we not informed about this?" Cloud questioned.

"What would it have mattered?" Terra asked. "I was not involved with Cocoon's Fall. In fact, I have not used my powers in over fifteen years!"

"I suggest we all get out of here first before we start questioning." The Commander of the Guardian Corp suggested. Lightning recalled his name to be Squall Leonhart.

"Yes, I'm sure my brother and the others are waiting for us." Vaan added.

"Where's the boss at?" Gadot complained as he was firing his shotgun at the strange creature. "He might know how to defeat him!"

Reks charged at the creature with his sword, but it flew up at the last second, causing the cadet to dive head first in the steaming hot water. "AHHH!" Reks screamed jumping towards the shore. Yuj and Maqui both quickly helped him up. "That was h-h-hot!"

"Wait a minute-" Sazh suddenly got an idea. Gadot watched as fire flamed up Sazh's entire arm. "ooh ho ho!"

Major Brody eyed him wearily, but unlike with Lightning and Snow, he seemed to trust Sazh. The older L'Cie threw his fire balls at the creature and it seemed to do a great bit of damage. Laguna was just finishing taking down some orobons, when he spotted more poking their heads up. He quickly fire at them, nailing every headshot.

Sazh was impressed with the gunman's skill. "Years of practice." Laguna commented.

"How many years though?"

"Over thirty." Laguna admitted. "Didn't pick up a gun until I was in my early twenties."

Sazh remained silent, then he narrowed his eyes at him and walked away. "Yo, Sazh." Gadot and Bartholomew approached him. "Are you alright, man?"

"That man is in his fifties!" Sazh exclaimed. "And he looks like that!"

"O-kay?" Gadot said.

"He's older than me but looks like he could be your age!" Sazh added, seeming completely distraught by this revelation.

"Well, I mean, everyone ages, differently, I guess." Gadot awkwardly comforted the L'Cie. "But I mean, there's no need to get upset over something like..."

Bartholomew honestly looked like he was going to cry.

"What the hell?" Gadot quietly backed away as Sazh and Bartholomew both silently seethed at Laguna's supposed youthful appearance.

"He's older than me too. How...this world is just too cruel." Bartholomew muttered.

Mog was happily singing ' _We're following Hope Estheim, Hope Estheim, Hope Estheim,"_ and managed to get all the kids (and Tidus and Ruby) to sing along. Hope had to hide the rising blush as everyone sang and Serah and Yuna smiled at the endearing contribution.

"Where are we headed?" Harry's father, Marcus, asked the fourteen year old leader.

"There was a spot where we camped that was similar to the camp at the Faultwarrens. It should be safe there until everybody else catches up."

"It must have been hard." Yuna started to converse with the boy. "Being a child and having to grow up so fast."

Hope was surprised by that revelation. He never considered that. He still felt like he was being babied. Not so much by Lightning, but definitely Snow and Sazh. Of course Dajh thinks anyone older than him was grown up, and he almost fell into the water when Dajh addressed him as 'Mister' when he requested if he could walk the rest of the way.

But the people following him now including Serah were looking to him for guidance. And he found that strange. How was he supposed to act. "We're here, you guys."

The kids almost collapsed on the grass, tired from all the walking. Tidus approached Hope, "shall we scout ahead. Just in case there are monsters."

Hope looked around. Were they the only armed ones here? "Yeah, there might be fiends wandering around the Spring. Erm, okay then. Tantalus," the theatre troupe looked up as Hope addressed them. "I'm going to need you to proetect the children here while Tidus and I scout."

"Roger that." Marcus nodded, acknowledging him as the one in charge.

"Is it just going to be the two of you scouting?" Serah asked.

"Well, I mean," _stop stuttering, Hope, you're supposed to be in authortiy._ "We need people here. Because..." _don't say that there could possibly be an ambush,_ "it would just be safer if we had some protection here."

Serah and Mog exchanged a look. "Perhaps I should come with you."

"Serah-"

"Mog can protect me. He can't join you on his own, he needs someone to come with him. I promise I won't be in any danger."

"Serah, if something were to happen to you, Light and Snow would kill me."

"I'm not giving you a choice, Hope. I'm coming with you." Serah crossed her arms in defiance. "Let's go Mog."

Tidus shrugged, "Don't worry kid, we got this."

Hope sighed and followed his party members.

Lightning and the others made it out of the Manhabara Subterra just as Sazh finished off the Typhon with Brynhildr. "Hey, guys," Lebreau greeted. "You missed the party."

"Don't worry, we were still at the first one," Squall's wife, Rinoa responded casually.

"Where's Serah?" Snow asked.

"There's quite a few people missing." Cloud's wife, Tifa spoke up.

"Hope led the rest of them on ahead. Get them out of the way of the fighting." Bartholomew informed them.

"Perhaps we should meet them up there." Terra added.

"We know you are just putting your little secret off more, but," Noel laughed, "let's just keep moving. Then...we can commence with the finger pointing, the accusing, etc."

"Sounds good." The Major had already spotted Terra's brand. He did not look happy. Not that he ever looked happy to begin with.

When Lightning and everyone got to the other side, Serah was in hysterics. "Serah! What's wrong! Are you hurt?"

"No! No I'm not hurt!" Serah was definitely in hysterics, but she didn't seem to be in danger.

Mog was rolling around on the grass...laughing?

 _What the hell is going on?_ Lightning thought to herself.

"Serah. Are you hurt?" Lightning tried again.

"No..."

"Where's Hope?" Bartholomew demanded to know.

Serah looked down sheepishly. _Why does she look so embarassed?_

"Just tell us the whole story." Lightning said.

 _Few minutes ago..._

 _Hope and Tidus were going to go scouting by themselves, I offered for me and Mog to come along with them. Hope tried to disuade but I didn't want him and Tidus on their own like that. Maybe I could help in some way._

 _Anyway, we ran into a few enemies, and we were able to handle them. Hope and Tidus watched out for me and were able to protect the rest of the group. But then we saw the water bubble up._

 _"Serah, stand back." Hope warned me._

 _Something grabbed my leg and tried to drag me into the water. Luckily, Tidus reacted quickly and freed me from whatever it was that grabbed. It tried to reach for me again, and yanked on me harder. Tidus and Hope had to keep their hands on me to keep me from falling into the water. Using all their strength, we all fell back as we yanked this giant purple octopus onto shore._

 _The octopus was kind of funny looking, and had big goofy eyes. He was...blushing. "Aw, all I wanted was the pretty girl!" the octopus slurred._

 _"Who are you?" Hope demanded, drawing his boomerang._

 _"I am Ultros, ruler of the Sulyya Spring!"_

 _"How come we never seen you before?" Hope continued to ask._

 _"Not alot of pretty people come by here. I get really lonely." He sniffled._

 _"What a creep." Tidus muttered._

 _"Well, you can't have the pretty girl, Ultros. The pretty girl is with us." Hope tried to reason._

 _"And this_ _ **pretty girl**_ _has a name." Serah added, slightly insulted._

 _The octopus sobbed. "Oooh, the pretty girl is mean to Ultros! Ultros don't like mean pretty girls. Take her, and don't come back!"_

 _"Hey! I'm sorry." I tried to apologize. I mean, I felt bad for the lonely octopus._

 _"Girls are so mean!" Ultros continued to cry._

 _"Please don't cry." Hope tried to comfort. He inched towards it, patting a hand on the octopus's slimy exterior. He looked back unsure, but I encouraged him, because I felt bad too. Tidus just seemed disturbed by the entire thing._

 _"Thank you, young man. You are too kind." Ultros sighed, seeming to calm down. "I'll just return to whence I came..." Then he submerged himself into the lake._

 _We thought that was over, but once we began walking back to the camp, Hope had just stopped to tie his shoes while I went ahead to talk to Tidus._

 _ **Glomp!**_

 _"Wah!"_

 _Mog and I spun around. "Hope!" I started running towards him, he was quickly being yanked into the river. I reached for his hand and tried to pull him out of the water._

 _"Ultros!" Hope screamed at him._

 _"Let go of him!" I told the crazy octopus._

 _"But the boy is even prettier!" He had_ _ **hearts**_ _in his eyes! "And he is so nice...and smells so_ _ **good**_ _! He's MIIINNNE!"_

 _"AHH!" Ultro then yanked him into the lake, and just...disappeared!_

 _"Tidus!" I screamed for him._

 _"You go back! The others should be there by now!" Tidus was kicking of his shoes._

 _"What about you!" I asked, as he ripped his jacket off._

 _He didn't respond, but I assumed he was going after him, diving into the lake._

Lightning and the others just stared at Serah.

"My son was kidnapped by a male pulsian octopus that can talk?!" Bartholomew said in disbelief.

Mog was still laughing. "Ultros just snatched him up, kupo! Wahahaha!"

"That is pretty embarassing." Noel admitted.

Lightning sighed. She had no idea what she felt about this. Should she be worried? Should she be concerned? Should she find this funny? Maybe a bit of everything. But they had to get Hope.


	5. Ultros: Ruler of the Sulyya Springs

**After the Fall**

 **Ultros: Ruler of the Sulyya Springs**

Lightning and the rest of the L'Cie (plus Noel, Mog, and Bartholomew) followed Serah to where Hope was abducted. There were definitely signs of a struggle, with several dirt patches in the grass. Sazh almost tripped on Tidus's shoes and jacket that were laid carelessly on the side. Clearly in a rush.

"We have to go after them!" Bartholomew exclaimed.

"Well, I mean, yeah, obviously." Noel informed the worried father. "How about me, Lightning, and another good swimmer go in."

Lightning huffed. "Hopefully we have a few of them. We can send plenty."

"No, but hear me out!" Noel tried to reason with the stoic soldier. "You and I can rescue Hope while Tidus and another swimmer distract the octopus."

"That won't work." Lightning quickly said, seemingly agitated.

"We are wasting time!" Bartholomew complained. "My son is Maker knows where and you two are arguing over strategy. Sergeant Farron, you and the Pulsian just go down there and find my son!"

"I can't go down there!" Lightning finally said.

"And why not?" Bartholomew asked like it was the silliest thing he has ever heard.

"I..." Lightning flushed and muttered to herself, "cantswim."

"Excuse me?" Bartholomew pressed.

Lightning blushed harder. "I can't swim!"

"Wha- you live on a beach! How did you not know how to swim!"

Serah laughed sheepishly, also guilty. "We were never taught."

"Anyways, I can't go. I won't go two feet." Lightning reconfirmed, crossing her arms in embarassment.

"It's alright, Lightning." Noel reassured. "Hold on, I think one of the Ratsbanes mentioned something about swimming. I'm gonna be right back. You stay here!"

Bartholomew glowered at the clearly embarassed Lightning, while Snow and Sazh waited patiently for Noel to gather a party. _We got no choice but to leave it to Noel,_ Snow and Sazh thought simulataneously.

Noel returned to the camp, and approached Reks and Vaan who were in a middle of a squabble. "Hey, didn't one of you mention being a good swimmer."

Reks and Vaan exchanged a look before the younger brother spoke up. "I mean, I am a pretty good swimmer. Not like Tidus."

"That's fine, Tidus isn't here. Can you come?" Noel asked. "I promise no one's going to get hurt."

Vaan looked back at his brother, Reks appearing to be disapproving. But Vaan still said: "Sure, let's go."

"We just need one more swimmer." Noel approached a Guardian Corps soldier who was standing nearby as a dark haired woman (Noel remembered her name was Rinoa) was talking animatedly with the Theatre Troupe. "Excuse me, are any of you pretty good swimmers?"

The Guardian Corps soldier just shrugged, while the Theatre troupe shook their heads. Rinoa spun around to look at Noel. "I'm pretty good."

"Rinoa..." The soldier muttered.

"What, I'll be fine, Squall."

"You already promise to scout tommorrow."

"So, I can't do both?"

The married couple glared at each other for a few moments without blinking, but the woman quickly gave up. "Sorry, guys. Maybe next time." She marched off almost childishly.

"I'll go." Vaan and Noel turned around to see a shy Terra Branford, rubbing her brand selfconciously. "I would swim all the time in Eden. And I'm sure I could do battle against underwater creatures." She assured.

Noel ignored Vaan's semi weary look and grabbed the woman's hand. "Great, there is no time to lose!"

When Noel returned with his party, Lightning scoffed. The hunter glared at her. "Oh, I'm sorry, does the non-swimmer have a complaint about the companions I've chosen?" Noel cupped his ear at the soldier.

"Noel, be nice." Serah defended her sister.

"It's the best we can do, Sis." Snow assured Lightning.

"At this point I don't care who's going!" Bartholomew admitted. "Just get my son back!"

"Will do, Bartholomew sir." Vaan saluted awkwardly, as Terra was taking her boots off. She reached under her dress and pulled down her tights, making Sazh and Snow look away uncomfortably.

"Give us about thirty minutes." Noel informed the others. "We might have to fight this Ultros. But we're definitely going to get Hope back."

"I hope so." Bartholomew muttered as he began to pace anxiously once more. Noel threw his shirt into Serah's direction, and was the first to dive in. He popped his head up. "Okay, the water is really hot. Just wanted to warn you! And I see a cave."

"So far, so good." Vaan set aside his vest. Serah was shyly averting her eyes as the men got undressed into nothing more than their shorts. He dove in after Noel, and Terra was the final swimmer to enter the steaming hot water of the Spring. They dove deeper under water, and the trio (led by Noel) entered the underwater cave.

Snow volunteered to bring Serah back to the camp while Lightning, Sazh, and Bartholomew waited for Noel to return. Mog followed the soon to be married couple. Sazh bit back a chuckle. "Does any of this make sense to you?"

Bartholomew sighed. "Nothing has, ever since Hope showed up on my door step without his mother and with a mark on his wrist."

Tidus jumped out of the water, and looked down at his fingers. They were soft and pruny, and he was pretty sure there was sweat mixed in with the water on his skin. His vision was returning, after being in the heat for so long, he was sure he was getting dehydrated. He almost gave up and turned back, but then he heard Ultros talking excitedly to a not so happy Hope.

He tip toed underneath a makeshift window (made out of rocks) and was surprised to see Ultros in an apron (yes, a pink lacy apron) cooking on top of a makeshift stove. It was a disturbing image. Ultros was rambling on about how alone he was all these years, and Tidus could hear the boy respond. He tip toed underneath the first window just as he accidently kicked a rock.

Ultros huffed and slugged over to the first window to check for intruders. Luckily he just missed Tidus, and he returned to his prep. In the second window, Tidus spotted Hope in his cage. He had a frown on his face as he half answered Ultros's questions. Tidus waved when Hope finally looked up from his little prison and his eyes lit up.

A ringing echoed throughout the cave. _Was that a doorbell? How does he have a doorbell?_ Tidus thought to himself. The octopus huffed, "I wonder who could that be? Why do these people not CALL first. I was in the middle of a date! Just hold on one moment, Hopie-poo!" The octopus slithered from out of sight.

Tidus knew he only had probably a couple of minutes before Ultros comes back. He entered the window and saw the lock on Hope's cage. "The key I think is in the kitchen!" Hope quickly informed Tidus. "Hurry before he comes back!"

"Just hang tight!" Tidus reassured the young boy as he searched around the foul smelling kitchen.

"Didn't you come earliar already?" Tidus could heard Ultro's voice. "I already told you I don't want any cookies. Wait, just a moment. Perhaps my guest wants some!"

 _Crap, he's coming back! Gotta hide!_

Tidus's heart raced as he saw Ultros's shadow reappearing and quickly hid underneath the sink. Hopefully the octopus won't be able to see him. "Oh, Hope, dear!" Ultros greeted, Tidus could practically hear the adoration dripping from his words. "Would you like any cookies. My treat!" The octopus bounced in place as he said this.

"Ten boxes." Hope casually said.

"MY, you really are a growing boy! Coming right up, my sweet!" Ultros disappeared again and Tidus poked his head out, looking at Hope. The silver haired teen was pointing behind Tidus's head at a shiny purple key that was meant to open Hope's cage.

Tidus slithered out from underneath the sink and snatched the key from where it hung and scurried to the room Hope was trapped in. "Hurry, Tidus! He's almost here!"

"I can't see the hole!" Tidus complained. "Shoot! He's coming back!" The blitzball star dove behind a crate, dropping the key in the process.

"Tidus!" Hope whispered yell. He could see Ultros grinning gleefully at Hope as he was heading his way. Like an assembly line he was grabbing the armful of boxes one by one with his back tentacles and neatly placed them on the dining room table. The teenager remained eye contact and snatched the key up, hiding it behind his back and Ultros toar a box open.

"I hope you like OATMEAL RAISIN!"

Terra, Noel, and Vaan finally arrived at Ultros's hideout, having had to fight underwater fiends along the way. They could already see Ultros trying to force feed Hope some cookies (This image was even weirder than it sounds as the trio stared mouth open at the spectacle).

"I paid for these blasted cookies! And you're gonna **eat them** , MY LOVE!" Ultros forced the cookie (actually it was more like four of them) into the boy's mouth, almost making the boy choke.

The trio took action, breaking into Ultros's 'house', drawing their weapons. "Huh?" Ultros questioned. "Who are you and why are you interrupting my date!"

"Date?!" Vaan exclaimed in shock. "This is a date?!"

While Hope was preoccupied, Tidus reemerged from the crates to help Hope out of the cage. Terra pulled a crystal from her arm and threw it behind her. "Siren!" She called out, and she slashed the Eidolith open.

The spring around them reacted to the Eidolon's entrance and began to wash up onto the cave, taking several boxes of cookies (which seemed to greatly upset the octopus), a light shined where the Eidolith was and a tall, red and gold Eidolin with gold wings on her head emerged, wielding a harp.

The Eidolon played a tune and Ultros was silenced. He jumped animatedly as he struggled to speak.

Somehow sensing their master to be in trouble, a swarm of orobons surrounded the cave, and everyone was pushed to fight while Siren continued to play her song. Noel attacked some orobons first, he just had to follow his hunting senses.

First, take into account your surroundings: they were in a cave, with water surrounding them. There is an Eidolon who is making Ultro shut up. Orobons are taking on Vaan who is struggling. Tidus who is falling into the water. Hope is throwing his boomerang. Terra is aiming for Ultros who is attempting to run away.

Noel locked in on three of his targets who were going to swarm Vaan. Next, what are their weaknesses? They are water creatures. Perhaps...fire and lightning. Perhaps that is Ultros's weakness as well. Terra does not seem to have any strong fire and lightning spells.

 _Sazh and Lightning do._

Noel had a plan.

First he had to take on the orobons, and it looked like he had to rely on swords alone. Vaan was being jumped by one and Noel slashed at the attacking orobon. With a flurry of dagger and sword, Noel was able to defeat the attacking orobon.

Tidus was splashing around in the water as Ultros grabbed him by the leg and was slamming him down. Ultros had a wicked grin on his face as he was able to still manhandle the blitzball star. Terra was on it, as she slashed at the particular tentacle, knocking Tidus into the spring. Hope was shooting him cure spells as he was busted up pretty bad.

"Thanks kid, that actually made me feel so much better. Who would of thought!"

"Siren! Gesault mode!" Terra cried out, just as Ultros's silence wore off.

The Eidolon morphed her body into a boat, enough for all five of them to escape on. "Hop on!" Terra informed the party. Everyone piled onto the boat as Terra took the captain's wheel. The orobons were blocking the way they came. Ultros was submerging himself in the water.

"Looks like we're going to have to find another way out!" Noel informed Terra just as she was turning the boat.

"Hope! Throw your boomerang at it!" Vaan shouted as Ultros was edging onto them fast.

Hope threw his projectile weapon just as Ultros was reaching his long tentacle out, it tore at the flesh causing him to scream out. "WAH! You will pay for that, humans!"

Ultros's eyes flashed dangerously. As he still latched on to the stern. "Brace yourselves!" Terra warned. Everyone grabbed hold of the boat just as they busted through a rock wall, everything shook and Ultros was let go.

"Looks like we got rid of him!" Tidus said in relief as he looked back.

"Ultros is the least of our problems now!" Terra warned the others.

They were headed towards rapid waters, and not just any rapid waters. Steam being shot up every so often. "Hang on!" Terra warned.

"We're gonna be alright, you guys." Tidus tried to reassure everyone.

A purple tentacle shot up and grabbed hold of the stern of the ship, just as the stream took hold of the Eidolon, and everybody was shot off.

Everyone had to duck everytime steam was aimed at the ship, but these conditions did not faze the invertebrae. He continued his trek onto the ship after every obstacle they bashed through, every stream of steam that shot out, every fiend that tried to climb on. Then Ultros finally climbed on board. "YOU!" He pointed his tentacle to Hope who was backed into the bow.

"Now, Ultros..."

"I thought you cared about me! I even bought boxes of oatmeal raisin cookies for you! I AM SO HURT!" He began to cry large angry tears.

Vaan was squeaking as he spotted a waterfall heading their way. Terra's Eidolon was starting to time out. She left the boat's helm and held Hope close to her while everyone began to huddle as Ultros continued his rant about the pretty lady and etc.

The boat soared off of the waterfall.

Lightning and the rest saw the boat and rushed to help. The Eidolon dismissed himself and five heads bobbed up, headed for the shore. "Fire!" They were shouting.

"Fire?" Bartholomew questioned. "Are they on fire?"

"IS there a fire?" Lightning added.

They then saw Ultros splash out of the water headed for where the remaining L'Cie plus Bartholomew were standing. Sazh caught what they meant and his hands were once again fired up. When Ultros got close enough, crazy in his eye, Sazh threw a fireball and that spell alone roasted the octopus.

The others got to shore, Bartholomew happy to have gotten his son back. A tired silence fell. "Anybody in the mood for Seafood?" Tidus asked aloud.

"This meeting is now in session." Commander Harvey announced once night fell.

"Dear Maker, Harvey," Laguna sighed, "we just barely digested the octopus that our lovely Lebreau has prepared for us."

The woman smiled warmly at the Captain. "I will admit, it was a bit tricky to cook something that big, but I'm glad everyone enjoyed dinner. About time we had something delicious in our bellies."

"We are getting ahead of ourselves!" Commander Harvey continued. "Meeting is now in order!"

Everyone gathered as Major Brody took the makeshift podium. "First order of business, addressing leadership here. If we are to form a community in this village, we are going to need a strong leader. Somebody that is strong and smart-"

"I suppose you are to be this leader?" Captain Firion spoke up.

"PSICOM is the only logical choice for the role." Commander Harvey backed up his superior.

"It's easiar to say that when you wear their uniform." Tifa spoke up, causing a bit of a spur in the crowd.

"Yeah!" Rinoa suddenly blurted standing on her feet. Her Commander husband had to quickly nudge her back to her seat.

"Order, order!" Laguna shouted. He then giggled. "I always wanted to say that."

"Do I get a say in this?" Lightning questioned.

"Absolutely not!" The Major shot down the L'Cie. "Your little incident got us almost killed earliar."

Lightning glanced over at Amodar, but even her own superior wasn't willing to back her up this time.

"I think we can all agree the L'Cie cannot be trusted!" Harvey accused.

"Now hold on just a minute!" Gadot argued. "Now, I may not know much about Lightning. In fact, she kind of scares me a little." This earned the roll of the eyes from the soldier, "but Snow is the most honest and loyal guy you can ever ask for. If you can't trust any of the L'Cie, at least trust him!"

"He almost got us lost as well!" Bartholomew argued earning a ' _What, are you serious!?'_ look from Snow.

"But, that's just the Villiers charm." Maqui chimed in.

"Charm is not going to protect our civilians." Brody quickly shot down. "So far, none of you L'Cie have proven to be fit for leadership. Farron and Villiers made a mess in the Subterra, Noel's an outsider, the rest are children, one of which we allowed to lead got himself abducted by an invertebrae, and...well...Katzroy is the only L'Cie who has not muddied things...yet."

Sazh narrowed his eyes at the last part. "I appreciate that, Major. But I cannot be in a position of leadership."

"You are humble."

"No, just an old man who knows his strengths and weaknesses. I can take charge momentarily. But as far leading all these people to Oerba and maintaining a sort of Primarch status. Uh-huh. Count me out."

"Then may we ask who you think should be in charge." Major Brody gave Sazh the floor.

The older L'Cie seemed surprised at the amount of respect that he was given by PSICOM. He was probably the only very neutral and level headed L'Cie of the bunch, he was willing to admit that. _Alright, I got this._ He thought to himself as he took the podium. _Never in my years did I think I'd be standing here on Gran Pulse, looking down on hundreds of civilians about who should be our future leaders._

"I'll start by saying this. Bear with me, I am aware I am a L'Cie too when I say this. I mean this with utmost honesty. The L'Cies...my friends, my comrades...we've been through hell together. And to turn my back on them now...would be outright disrespectful for everything they have done. I don't blame you for your mistrust, because I was just in your shoes probably a couple months ago. I did not know what L'Cie were...so I feared them. I pictured L'Cie to be these monsters who wanted to destroy the world. But then...I became a father of one."

Sazh let out a heavy sigh as the memory washed over him, he glanced down at his son who was listening intently, leaning against Hope's arm. "I once pictured L'Cie as these...grotesque creatures, deformed. A bogeyman from a nightmare. But...Dajh was still my son. He looked the same. He was still a young boy. Who wanted to color and play with chocobos. How could people fear something that looked like him I thought."

He cleared his throat. "I won't stand here and tell you how hard it was to think that I could lose my son, that he would someday become one of those bogeyman, _cieth_ , unless I completed his focus."

Tidus hesitently raised his hand. "Er, what's a focus?"

"Honestly...I don't know. We never knew what it was. Anyway, the point I was trying to make was that...we are L'Cie...but we are still people. I am just an ordinary man. I am a father, I am a pilot, I can shoot guns...which are the only skills I can claim to actually belong to me. Lightning, Soldiergirl over here is a grump."

 _Sazh, what is your point?_ Lightning frowned at Sazh's blatant statement.

"She can be a bit rude, but that don't make her a monster. In fact, I have never seen a woman care so much for a person, like how much she cares for her sister. Or how much she started to care about the rest of us, yes, Soldiergirl, I've noticed you being a little nicer, she tries to hide it. As for that big guy, Snow. His heart is even bigger. I can promise you, like Gadot says, he will never let anything harmful come to any of you if he can help it. And he don't even know all of you. But if he were to see you in a bind, I guarentee he would be the first to jump to your rescue, even if he gets hurt along the way. I've seen it happen."

The L'Cie started to notice how everyone was starting to come around during Sazh's speech. "Hope may be a kid, but he is the smartest little twelve year old I've ever met. Sorry, he's fourteen, he has to keep correcting me but I remembered this time. Ask him anything, I swear he will know the answer. If he doesn't know the answer right away, as him again later, and he would have found it. Unless he finds you first. Now I will admit, I haven't known Serah long, and I just met Noel. But they are the nicest kids. Serah, can't even believe she is even a L'Cie. Noel, I have actually met two other pulsian prior to meeting this kid. Having said that, Pulsians are probably one of the most worthwhile people you will ever meet. Give this kid some credit."

"Do I believe that L'Cie should lead? Honestly...no." Sazh admitted. "None of us want to be a leader. Snow might want to be but...really, no. Snow, sorry man, we need a big guy on the fields."

Everyone chuckled a bit at Sazh's poke at said big guy. Snow merely shrugged.

"Do I think PSICOM should be leader. I'm sorry Major, but I will also have to give that a no. Guardian Corps, who is even in charge of Guardian Corps here, Amodar?"

"Actually, that will be me." Commander Squall spoke up.

"Really?" Sazh couldn't help but say. "Well, you might, but no. I don't think that is a good idea. Instead however, I think we could vote a representative from the L'Cies, PSICOM, the Guardian Corps, and a some other elected officials we believe could form a sort of **council.** "

"A Council?" Commmander Harvey hummed.

Major Brody's eyebrows knitted together in deep thought. "That...actually sounds fair. Every faction has a say, we pick the best representative."

"That is exactly what I am saying."

Laguna started an applause and everybody followed as Sazh stepped down from his podium. Major Brody took over once more. "We also have further discussion reguarding Terra Branford, who has revealed herself to be a L'Cie. But...you are quite lucky, Ms. Branford, we will decide what is to be done about the situation once we have arrived in Oerba and our council is assembled. It is getting late, and our late night scouters are going to camp in Taejin's Tower while we base in Sulyya Springs. We are almost there. Meeting adjourned."

Everyone dispersed, some were taking a bath in the Spring, some were beginning their rest, and some were joining Tidus in a blitzball game. Serah was seeing her friend, Noel off, Mog joining him in the late night excursion. "Take care of yourself, alright." She informed him.

Noel had a cocky grin on his face. "Piece of cake, Serah. Since the base camp is going to take Mt. Fairne's pass to Oerba, I probably won't see you til we get there."

"Don't worry, Serah," Laguna, who was joining the late scouters to Taejin's Tower informed her. He then spotted the Commander of the Guardian Corps talking to his wife. "My son is a bit of a worry-wart. Look how he's doting on her."

"Your son is the Commander of the Guardian Corps?" Noel questioned aloud, and noticed a slight falter in Laguna's usually permaneant smile.

He laughed slightly uncomfortable, "It's a long story." He and Noel approached the couple as Rinoa was laughing her husband off.

"Rinoa, I am being serious."

"Squall, will you calm down. I've done these kind of missions before. I am the leader of the Forest Owls, remember? ...well...was."

Squall's eyes flickered at Laguna. "Take care of Rinoa, Laguna."

"Why is everyone so on edge. We handled the Manhabara Subterra, we ate an octopus. You need to not take life so seriously. Your mind is like a backpack. It won't work unless it's open."

Squall sighed. "Number one, that quote does not fit our circumstance, and number two: It's a **parachute.** Not a **backpack.** "

"Looks like we better get going, the rest of the scouts are already leaving." Noel said running after them.

Laguna followed him, and Rinoa smiled warmly at a pouting Commander. She then pointed up. Just as her husband looked up a shooting star shot by. "Make a wish, Squall."

He couldn't help but smile at her. "See you on the other side." The Commander retreated to the Guardian Corps tent, while Rinoa jogged after the scouts.

"So, Noel." Rinoa approached the hunter. "Tell me about your hunting escapades."

Meanwhile, Lightning was on a personal mission on her own. Each of her fellow comrades asked if they could join her, but she felt it easier to do alone.

She found the 'school teacher', changing into some fresh clothes after a wash in the Spring. She was alone. When Lightning spotted Terra, she for some reason felt the need to point it out.

"Nobody wants to talk to me." Terra admitted somberly.

Lightning merely crossed her arms. "I want to talk to you."

"I knew you did." Terra sighed. "I'll tell you everything."

 **AN: So, who do you think would make great members of the Council?**


	6. Oerba

**After the Fall**

 **Fighting Fate**

Terra sat down and leaned against the cliff overlooking the spring, the soldier questioning the woman sat beside her, waiting for her explanation. "Five hundred years ago," Terra began, "I was a soldier from Cocoon who fought in the War of Transgression against the Pulsians. I was only eighteen, and most of the Cocoon civilians feared Pulse. Volunteers were to meet with the Fal'Cie in Cocoon, Eden, and turn into Cocoon L'Cie."

"You became a L'Cie willingly." Lightning confirmed.

"Yes, several of us were. We were willing to give our lives to protect Cocoon. I...my father trained me at a very young age sword fighting, so when the day came, I would fight. I...never wanted to fight. But that was all I knew. That was all my upbringing was. The war against Pulse was coming fast, and we needed to be able to defend our home."

She sighed. "My focus...was to eliminate all the Pulsians. After Ragnarok cracked Cocoon's shell, it gave us an opening. We invaded Pulse. They had thousands of soldiers, but with our advanced technology and airships, we were able to bomb their villages, and camps. So many people died. Men, women, children. Soldiers, warriors, L'Cie...civilians. We were just killing machines. What they were didn't matter to us, we just wanted to purge that entire planet."

"I suppose I completed my Focus, because the next thing I remember, I woke up in the Narthex." She looked down at her fingers. "I was all alone. All my comrades may have woken up before me or they perished in the battle, I never knew. But there I was, eighteen years old from five hundred years in the past...and I was all alone."

"How long ago was that?" Lightning asked.

"About sixteen years ago. So, of course I had to adapt. I still had my powers, but...I had a chance to live a normal life. I became a teacher at a Highschool in Eden...but even though my life was pretty ordinary, and my brand was fizzled out I felt disconnected from society. Perhaps it is because I'm not from this era, but I found it increasingly difficult to make friends. I have no family. It has just been me all these years."

Lightning considered Terra's story for several long moments. "So, what do you plan to do now that your secret is out."

"I suppose I won't be able to live a normal life, not that any of us were really going to have that. But I hope to help the civilians adjust to Oerba."

Lightning narrowed her eyes. "I had friends who were also part of the War of Transgression. In fact, the very one who caused that crack on Cocoon. You were responsible for wiping out their entire village and causing the extinction of pulsian race."

Terra was still not looking at Lightning. "It was war, Lightning. I didn't have a choice. I thought...long ago that pulsians were evil. I was so young!" Terra was visibly becoming upset. "Surely, you cannot fault me for what has happened."

"When Vanille saw what became of her village," Lightning continued, she could see tears welling up in the L'Cie's eyes, "she was devastated. Like you, she was awakened five hundred years into the future along with her bestfriend on their enemy's planet. We journeyed just like we are now to get to Oerba, only to find it abandoned and covered in crystals. Not a soul breathed in that village."

Terra pulled her legs to her chest, burying her face. It was hard to believe that this woman was much older than Lightning, she seemed to be like a scared child. "I am so sorry." She whispered.

"Were you there...in Oerba. Did you kill anyone from that village."

Terra remained silent for a long time. "Yes...I killed so many people there. I can never forget the faces. It...haunts my dreams."

Lightning stood from where she sat, "It is not my place to forgive you for what you have done." She responded. As soon as Lightning left from view, Terra began to cry.

"She killed Fang and Vanille's family?" Hope repeated once Lightning gathered her comrades to relay the story back.

"She was in Oerba during the War of Transgression. She was part of the squad that terminated the village." Lightning added.

"I can't believe she would do something like this." Snow gruffed. "How can we even look at her the same?"

"Hey!" Sazh tried to reason. "It's not her fault. She didn't know. She was just following orders. Everybody was scared of the pulsians."

"Sazh," Lightning challenged. "Have you already forgotten the horror stricken look on Vanille's face, and the rage Fang had when they saw what became of their village. Terra personally killed their clanmates."

"I'm not saying what she did was right," Sazh tried to defend, "but I think it is unfair how everyone is already shunning her, and we are doing the same. We are all L'Cie here. Snow, weren't you the one to say we are in this together."

Snow shook his head, "Terra...murdered innocent people. I know they were under orders...but I just can't help think of how things could have been different."

"Vanille and Fang would never forgive us if we accepted her, I don't think." Hope added.

"Come on kid, you know that's not true!" Sazh tried to reason. "Vanille would have forgiven her! Nobody is perfect. Soldiergirl, I'm sure you had to carry out orders that were against your wishes."

Lightning crossed her arms. "She's just gonna have to prove herself to be trusted." She exited the small tent that belonged to Bartholomew.

"Hope," Sazh tried again, "She saved you from Ultros, have you forgotten?"

Hope sighed. "I don't know what to think. It's complicated."

"What a mess." Snow complained.

"Agree," Sazh said. "Look, I think we can trust Terra Branford. She is one of us. And if you can't be nice, I will. I know what happened in the past was terrible...but that was five hundred years ago. She obviously feels remorse for what has happened."

Meanwhile, as Noel's squad was entering Taejin's Tower, Laguna requested they take a break. They have been fighting fiends the entire way there. "I didn't think it would be so heavy with monsters here."

"It's almost like they are guarding something." One of the men suggested.

"There use to be a Fal'Cie here, I heard." Noel commented. "Back in the day, people would make a pilgrimage here to this Tower and pledge to become a L'Cie to fight the Cocoonians."

"People became L'Cie willingly?" Rinoa questioned.

"Sounds like it was hip new trend." Laguna joked.

Noel laughed, "Uh, sort of."

"There's so much mystery here on Gran Pulse." Rinoa commented. "It's impossible to see it all."

"I agree," Noel added, "I've lived here all my life, but I still feel like there is so much more out there. It's just...hard to get there with the fiends. The further you travel, the more you struggle. I guess it's easier for L'Cie because they have the magic and Eidolons."

"To have so much power..." Rinoa said aloud.

"I like our L'Cies." Laguna commented. "Squall needs to stop being so paranoid of things that are different from the norm."

"The Commander dislikes the L'Cie?" Noel asked.

Rinoa sighed, "He's had a hard time accepting them to be the good guys. But he doesn't associate with them. I mean he knew that one woman, Lightning. She's part of the Guardian Corps. But with the brand on her, 'she's not the same'."

"Does he dislikes pulsians as well?" Noel asked, this earned a sort of sad smile from Rinoa.

"But we like you!" Rinoa tried to cheer up.

"Ready to go in?" Laguna asked. "It sounds like we have quite the fight ahead of us. But if we want to claim this tower, we gotta play clean up."

"Alright, we might encounter cieth here." Noel informed his team. "Because this used to be where the Fal'Cie was active. Most of the time, when someone is transformed into a L'Cie...they are so shocked that it speeds up the process on their brands, and they immedietly become cieth before they even try to complete their focus."

"Whoa, scary."

The next morning, everyone was already crossing the Mountain Pass of Fairne. The L'Cies admitted having taken the Taejin Tower route, but with the Fal'Cies no longer functioning, there was no way they could get all the civilians to Oerba. It was a long walk, and everyone was beginning to tire from the journey they had.

Luckily, this was the final steps before everyone would come home. Serah was huddled up with Snow, whispering sweet things to each other, making the younger Farron giggle. Lightning smiled warmly. She was happy to have her sister back, but she knew that now she was marrying Snow, her job was done.

Now she just has to focus on helping maintain Oerba, as a soldier. Sazh was carrying Dajh on his shoulders. You could already see Oerba coming into view, Cocoon's crystal pillar far away in the background, looking like a mere dot. "That's the village!?" Vaan exclaimed.

"It's huge! It looks like a city!" Tidus added.

"It's...so pretty." Yuna sighed.

"Can see yourselves living in one of these houses." Sazh added, the nurse nodded in response, smiling down at her own son who stared at the village of Oerba wide eyed.

"Once we get to work," Rygdea laughed, "this city is going to be a thing of beauty."

"We gotta restart Tantalus!" Ruby said happily.

"I can open a bar/restaraunt!" Lebreau added happily. She glanced back at the female fist fighter. "You still want to co-own."

"I don't see why not?" Tifa said. "It's a hassle working at the bar and kitchen by yourself."

Her husband, Cloud, stood silent behind her, while his son, Denzel was saying something to him. Lightning couldn't catch what it was, but she saw a smile cross the blonde soldier's face for the first time.

She did see Cloud once in the while on base, but they never spoke. She knows little to nothing about him. As for Commander Leonhart, who was talking to Amodar far ahead, was the superior of the Guardian Corps soldiers here. He would come to Bodhum sometimes for certain situations.

But she did remember when she was eighteen, he dueled her. Everyone thought it was weird he would want to duel some cadet at the time, but he had claimed he wanted to see how she used her gunblade. She was the only other gunblade specialist he knew aside from himself and another rogue soldier.

After another thirty minutes of walking, they finally made it. And to Lightning's surprise, it was vacant of any monsters. Sazh offered to show the civilians the dwellings, while Snow and Serah joined them. Hope was offering Terra to show her the schoolhouse where she can resume her teaching job, the woman seemed pleased by the boy's kindness.

Lightning was called by Amodar to meet with the other soldiers in the Village Proper.

Snow and Serah had claimed Fang and Vanille's house. They could barely hear Sazh's voice outside as he was continuing his tour. Serah sighed and collapsed on the couch. "Wow, I never thought we would make it here." She sighed.

"It's nice, right?" He added. "Fang and Vanille used to live here. Wanna see our room?"

Serah rose an eyebrow, but took Snow's offered hand. The two entered the room in the back where a orange room with a purple bed was. "This was definitely their room."

Serah placed her hand on the silk sheets. "The entire room is still surprisingly clean after all these years. Well, despite the dust." She wiped it off her skirt. "Once we get some cleaning done, I'm sure it will be wonderful."

Snow embraced his soon to be wife. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Here. Us and a big happy family."

The two shared a kiss, and were interrupted by knocking on the window. Serah pulled away quickly and squeaked at a grinning ten year old, Ruby's son, Harry. Marlene quickly pulled him away mouthing 'sorry', and left the love birds alone.

"Curtains wouldn't be so bad, either."

Sazh pulled down some wood that was barricading the door. After he did so, he stared at the remains. He knew that this was the result of the Oerbans protecting themselves against the Cocoonians attack. By the way this particular building was falling apart, a barred door wasn't much defense against the bombings that may have occured.

Still, if any dead bodies had remained here, they would have perished by now. Tifa kicked aside a pile of broken wood (presumingly from chairs) and Lebreau was tip toeing around the debris that surrounded the once bustling restaraunt.

At least there was a bar, and Lebreau was already investigating the state of the kitchen in the back. "We can work with this." The NORA member informed her new partner.

"Better than nothing. Now we just need good alcohol." Tifa added. "I don't suppose anybody knows how to make it."

"I'm sure if I ask around for you I'll find someone." Sazh offered.

"Thank you, Sazh!" The women said in unison.

Lebreau remerged with a broom. "Who wants to sweep and who wants to scrub?"

Hope had just showed the schoolhouse to Terra, and had left her to decorate (she seemed excited with the task). The young boy was considering looking for his father, but spotted Yuna walking around in awe. She didn't seem lost, just like she was taking everything in.

"Hello, Yuna. You like it here?"

She smiled at the boy. "It's beautiful. I never thought that Pulsians would have such big cities. I always pictured Oerba to be a little tiny village with huts and bonfires."

"I thought the same thing. Where's Tidus and Inu?"

Yuna playfully rolled her eyes. "Playing blitzball with the other kids. And by kids I mean Vaan included." She giggled.

"They love blitzball, huh?" Hope asked.

"Yeah, blitzball is Tidus's life. And Inu wants to be just like his dad someday."

Hope glanced down at the first aid kit that Yuna carried around since he met her. "Can I show you something?"

The fourteen year old guided her to a small building near where Tantalus was being stationed at (they were turning their building into a theater), and showed Yuna a small clinic. "This is perfect." She sighed.

"With a little cleaning, she is all yours. Now everybody will know where to find you." Hope confirmed.

A short while later, the leader of Tanatlus, Baku, Hope recalled, entered the clinic just as Yuna was shifting things. "So we're gonna be neighbors in short."

"In a way, yes." Yuna confirmed politetly.

"I'm just making the rounds. We decided to perform our fan favorite play. You know, to celebrate homecoming. The kids will love it!"

"What's it called?" Hope asked.

"I wanna be your Canary!"

"I've...never heard of that play." Yuna admitted.

"You will now! Join the Theater tonight for a show of a lifetime. Starring our very own Ruby!" He quickly made his exit, and Yuna and Hope laughed at his response.

Serah had requested to take a nap. But the large L'Cie was not tired. He decided to let his love rest while he checks up on NORA. He spotted Gadot and Maqui inside of a garage, cleaning.

"We're reopening Lenore's Garage!" Maqui said excitedly. "This time, it's physical."

"Will you still have your network?" Snow asked Maqui, setting up his youngest member's supplies.

"If we can figure out a way to stay online without the Fal'Cie, maybe." Gadot added. "But for now, we need to learn how to be pulsian, which means, instead of ordering parts off a network and just fixing things up on the spot, we need a place people can come to."

"You mean like our shop?" Snow asked. "We were like mechanics. How are we supposed to be mechanics if nobody drives?"

And awkward silence fell. "We're going to have to rethink this business aren't we."

"What about the inside of the building?" Snow asked.

"Yuj is setting up his clothing store he always wanted!" Maqui said happily.

"Yeah, men come here looking for gear, women come here to go shopping." Gadot said, unaware of how unintentionally sexist he sounded.

"Don't let Lebreau hear you." Snow added with a smirk as he spotted Yuj dusting his new store from the window, a happy smile on his face.

"Fine, then people like Yuj can also go shopping."

"That wasn't much better, man." Maqui added.

At the Village Proper, Lightning was helping the soldiers go over plans. Such as where everyone was living. Sazh had just rejoined them, giving them information on the living arrangements.

"Me and Dajh are here. Then it's Bartholomew and Hope. Snow and Serah are here."

"Snow and Serah are living together?" Lightning found herself saying out loud. She almost shrunk when all eyes looked up at her.

Sazh gave her an apologetic smile. "I guess, since they are already planning on getting married."

The soldier sighed.

"Don't worry, you live right across from them, next to the Estheims."

 _That doesn't really make me feel any better._ Lightning thought. _No, it's fine. They are getting married. I just...it came sooner than I had intentionally thought._

Tifa and Marlene had a house to themselves, and Lightning noted that Cloud and Denzel were deliberately placed farther away from them. The blonde soldier seemed also surprised by this arrangement. It was very brief but it was quickly replaced by his stoic mask.

The civilians who lived on their own were required to have roomates. Such as, Lightning had to share a house with Terra. When she learned of this arrangement she rose an eyebrow. "Is there anybody else I could room with?"

Sazh narrowed his eyes at Lightning's rejection. "Unless you don't mind living with Noel, Rygdea, or any of the other soldiers. I guess I could have you live with Amodar?"

The Lieutenant chuckled and Lightning once again felt embarassment. "Fine." _Why did we have to be the only females who live on our own. I guess that is better then sharing a room with Amodar. Or...any of the soldiers. Especially the older ones like...Dear Maker, Brody._

"We've been here for two hours now." Squall informed everyone once the meeting was adjourned. Major Brody decided to wait til the scouting team from Taejin returned to Oerba before deciding the Council. Cinna from Tantalus had even swung by to inform everyone of tonight's performance, which the Major welcomed.

"They have been gone all night as well. Perhaps we should send somebody to the Tower." One of the Guardian Corps soldiers, Bartz Klauser mentioned.

"I'll go." Cloud volunteered.

"We're going to need just a few people." Amodar responded. "Farron, why don't you grab Villiers and any volunteers and head for the tower."

"May I also request to bring a nurse with us." Squall informed. "If we need to, we might need immediete medical attention."

"I'll find Yuna." Lightning informed the Commander. "Her husband might want to join."

"Reks, is it possible for Vaan to come with us." Cloud added.

The Cadet didn't seem pleased with bringing his younger brother on the mission, but he nodded anyway. Lightning sympathized with the man.

Everyone dispersed, Squall ordering the team to meet by the mountains in five minutes.

Lightning's job was to request Yuna's aid. "Tidus." She interrupted the blitzball game. "Have you seen your wife?"

He seemed confused by the request and passed the ball along to Dajh. "Why?"

She was surprised that his playful tone was gone. She could tell he was protective of his wife, but not to this extent. "We need a nurse, or medic to come with us to Taejin. Noel and the others have not returned, and the Commander believes the worse."

Tidus stared hard at her, and it made Lightning tense in frustration. "Yes, Tidus, you can come to. We need a squad."

Suddenly, the chipper happy go lucky Tidus was back. "Sure, come this way!"

 _That was just weird._

Lightning found Yuna in a clinic that Hope had showed her. When she requested Yuna's help she seemed reluctant. "Can I go instead?" Hope asked.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Your dad's been giving me the evil eye everytime I ask you to do something." Lightning informed the fourteen year old.

He frowned, crossing his arms.

"Maybe next time." Lightning tried to cheer up.

Hope hopped off the bed and marched towards the theater house. Lightning noted herself to talk with him later.

"Let me just grab my kit." Yuna sighed, all signs pointing that she really was not in the mood to go back.

"It shouldn't take long." Lightning tried to reassure.

Once she came back to the meeting spot, Cloud and Tifa were in a middle of an argument. "We are fine, Tifa."

"Cloud! I am going with you, whether you like it or not!"

"Don't you have a bar to clean."

"Lebreau said she will handle it. Squall needs to get his wife back, and the longer we stand out here talking, the less time we have before night falls again!"

"Hey, just take your wife with us!" Reks argued, seeming agitated.

Snow glanced over at Lightning with a pained expression. He was notably uncomfortable watching this display.

"She's-" Cloud almost said, and Tifa flinched.

"I'm not his wife!" Tifa finished. "Well, technically I still am since the papers never got through before Cocoon's Fall!"

"Tifa..."

"I'm going! Lead the way, Commander. I believe everyone's assembled."

Squall didn't seem to really care about the squabble, more about rescuing the scouting team.

The formation was simple. Squall took point, while Snow stayed close in Sentinel. Tidus kept Yuna in the center in case of preemptive strikes. Lightning and Tifa were in the back, in charge of the rear. Cloud took left, Reks took right. Vaan was also a back ranker.

Yuna seemed tired of all the walking by the time we arrived at Taejin's Tower.

"Something's wrong." Reks stated. "They are only twenty minutes away from us. They should have been here before we even got to Oerba."

Squall drew his gunblade. "Wait!" Snow said. "Shhhh..."

The sounds of familiar moans echoed throughout the tower. "Cieth. Lots of them." Lightning confirmed.

"They all must of came from Oerba. But why would they come here?" Snow added.

"Move out!" Squall lead the squad into the abyss of the tower. They were right away ambushed by cieth. Squall lunged his gunblade into the eye of the cieth's brand and fired, severing it in half. It screamed in agony.

Cloud jumped down to a lower level and took down two of them with his oversized sword. Tifa was taking down one with a series of kicks, launching it in the air. Lightning took the oppurtunity and helped Tifa finish it airbourne.

Snow lifted one cieth and threw it over the side of the tower, and it fell all the way to the first floor, exploding into a million little shards.

Yuna screamed as one grabbed her by her skirt and Tidus hacked at it's oversized arm before it could harm her.

Reks moved Vaan out of the way, yelling at him and fought off another cieth that was about to attack Vaan. Lightning saved the younger Ratsbane a second time by finishing off the final cieth that remained in the Tower.

"Is anybody there!" Tifa called out.

"Help!" A voice called out.

"That sounds like Noel!" Reks confirmed. "But where is he?"

"It sounds like he's behind the wall." Tidus confirmed.

Noel was trying to tell them something but all of them completely missed it as they tried to find a way to get to him. "We don't know what you're saying!" Cloud called out.

" **Find Rinoa!** "

"What happened!?" Squall demanded to know.

" **Just find her! Laguna went after but..."** The rest was incoherent. " **AGH**!"

"Are you injured!" Yuna called out as Vaan was struggling to open all the doors.

No response.

"We have to get to him!" Yuna informed the Commander. "I know you're worried about Rinoa but let me just get to him first alright?"

Squall glared at the nurse, and Tidus glared in return.

"I found something, you guys." Vaan informed the squad. He pulled down a lever and a secret wall opened from the other side of the tower.

Squall was quick to investigate, and everyone followed after him. It led up a level and down a corrider. "We've never been through here before." Snow informed the squad who were looking around curiosuly.

"Gran Pulse is just a giant puzzle, isn't it?" Tifa half laughed.

"Oh Maker!" Yuna gasped as she saw a bleeding Noel inside one of the huge rooms.

"Damn." Squall groaned as he spotted some civilians that were part of the scouting team also in there with him. Dead.

Noel was barely concious. "Potion. I need a potion."

Yuna opened her first aid kit and forced a potion into Noel's mouth, helping him drink it. Cloud, Tifa, Vaan, and Squall filed into the big room, weapons drawn and in battle stances in case of an attack. They could hear rumbling and a high pitched scream.

"Was that the Captain!" Reks exclaimed following the noise. Snow followed after him, but then the entire tower shook, knocking everybody to the ground.

"Why is everything shifting!?" Snow exclaimed.

Lightning gasped angrily as the violent shaking made Tidus collide into her, sliding them down against the wall, almost falling off the tower. Once the shaking subsided, Lightning shoved the blitzball player angrily off of him.

"Tidus!" Yuna screamed.

"Something's wrong!" Reks also screamed.

Tidus was quick to rush back to the big room and just as he was about to enter, he was thrown back against the corrider wall. Yuna was on the ground, appearing to have also been jolted by the force field that appeared. Lightning's stomach sank.

It reminded her too much of... _no._

"We gotta get them out of there!" Lightning exclaimed. "It's the fal'cie!"

"What?" Reks exclaimed.

Inside Noel was struggling to his feet, while everyone had their backs against each other, "Isn't that-" Snow said as he watched helplessly as a familiar Fal'Cie entered the room, the ceiling being opened up, exposing the night and starry sky.

"We gotta find a way to get them out of there! Yuna's in trouble!" Tidus begged, watching as his wife, backed into a corner, as the rest of them began to fight the Fal'Cie.

"This way!" Snow led Lightning and Reks around the tower, trying to find a way to free the squad. Tidus stayed behind, trying to soothe his panicking wife.

Meanwhile in Oerba, Tantalus was performing "I wanna be your Canary."

The play was rather mediocre, but the story seemed interesting. It was supposedly about a hero (played by Harry's father, Marcus), who wants to marry Princess Cornelia (played by Ruby), but his enemy is her father, King Leo (played by the leader of Tantalus Baku).

The children seemed bored, the parents seemed bored.

Dajh was falling asleep in Sazh's arms. "He's tired from all that walking. I think I'm gonna take him home." Sazh informed Bartholomew, picking his son up and quietly exiting the theatre.

Gadot was snoring loudly during the performance, and the rest of NORA was drawing on his face. Bartholomew glanced over to see Hope looking pretty glum as Inu and Harry were harassing him with questions. "This play is so boring, come on, let's go outside and play blitzball." Harry begged, tugging on his jacket.

"It's late." Hope said curtly.

"But we're so bored." Inu whined.

The fourteen year old exited the theatre, confusing the younger boys. Hope crossed his arms and walked the path to his new home.

"Hey!" he heard a male voice call out.

Hope turned around and was surprised to see Cloud's son, Denzel, coming after him. They never really talked until now, so Hope found this kind of surprising. "Hey, you okay? You usually don't look that sad."

"Sorry, I'm just tired."

"Aren't we all." Denzel laughed. Hope seemed silent. "Hey, listen...you know I have a sword that's kind of like Cloud's."

"Really." Hope stated curiously.

"Yeah, he trained me himself. But I never got to use it. Even now...Cloud never lets me do missions with him or anyone. He will just tell me to protect Marlene. I'm nineteen years old! I'm not a kid anymore."

"Hm..." Hope sighed. _I got it._

"But I know, my chance will come." Denzel informed him. "We just gotta wait. They'll need us eventually."

"You're right. I guess I was so used to having to do alot. Now that there are adults around to help..."

Denzel shrugged. "Let's see if we can find something better to do."

Just then the ground shook, and a loud sound echoed throughout Oerba. Everyone fled the Theater wanting to investigate.

"The Tower!" Hope exclaimed.

"Guys!" Everyone was shocked to see a hysterical and battered Laguna running towards, them, collapsing into Captain Luneth's arms. "They're coming...they're..." he fell unconcious.

"Get him to the clinic." Amodar commanded.

Meanwhile at Taejin's Tower, the structure was just about to collapse. The trapped squad members finally defeated the Fal'Cie after a grueling hard battle. A bright light shined, then everything fell black.

"Yuna!" Tidus called out when he no longer can see what was happening inside.

Inside, Cloud, Tifa, Squall, Noel, Vaan, and Yuna were being held by the Fal'Cie by a stream of magic. They all screamed in agony just as Lightning and the others were falling off the side of the collapsing tower.

The entire tower crumbled, and Tidus was sliding down fast. "YUNA!" He screamed.

Snow grabbed him just in time, and pulled him close to him as well as Lightning and Reks. "STEELGUARD!" A golden force field enveloped all of them, just as they crash landed onto the earth. The spell cracked, and everyone had the wind knocked out of them.

Lightning watched in shock as the entire Tower dissipated within the ground. "YUNA!" Tidus continued to scream, falling to his knees. Tears were welling in his eyes. "Dammit!"

Reks was also distraught, his brother having also been caught in the blast.

"I am so sorry, Tidus." Snow apologized.

"This is your fault!" Reks angrily spat at the L'Cie. "Commander Brody was right not to trust you! We have no family because of you and your Maker forsaken Fal'Cie, and Pulse! I HATE PULSE!"

"Reks, we had nothing to do with this." Lightning tried to reason. "We are truly sorry for what had happened."

"How could nobody save them!" Reks continued. "If you have these powers, how could you not-"

"Reks." Tidus sighed. "Please stop. It's not their fault."

"But...Tidus, your wife."

"Is gone...and I..." Tidus choked.

They were then attacked by a swarm of spawns. They buzzed in and Tidus released a battlecry, going in for the kill. Reks and the others joined in the battle. "Where did they come from!?" Snow asked.

"They were probably drawn by the noise. We need to get rid of them before they reach Oerba." Lightning informed the rest.

Suddenly, Reks saw Vaan emerge from the rubble, helping Noel out. They were both cover in dirt and grime, and Vaan was coughing, clutching his chest as he was fighting to breathe. "They're alive!" Reks retreated to check up on his brother.

"You look for Yuna," Snow told Tidus. "We'll handle them. Shiva!"

"Odin!"

Tidus ran past the Ratsbanes and moved aside rubble. Tifa had just emerged and saw Tidus's struggling, screaming for his wife's name. She struggled to help out, but her legs were giving out.

Yuna used some of her energy to push off a large piece of debris. Tidus embraced her and she continued to cough. "Are you okay?" Tidus asked.

"I'm fine. I just...am finding it difficult to breathe." Tidus effortlessly lifted Yuna out of the debris and carried her to the grass away from the fight.

Squall practically threw debris off, seeming angry. He saw Cloud was struggling with a piece of debris and tried to help him. "I'm fine!" Cloud spat angrily at his superior.

"Cloud."

"I said I'm **fine**!" He yelled, agitated, but the force of his fist against the ground caused _**Quake,**_ and it exterminated the rest of the swarm.

Squall stepped back, and Lightning and Snow looked over in surprise, but Cloud does not seemed fazed by it, or even noticed what he did. "Cloud, you just used magic." Lightning informed him.

He looked around at everyone's faces. "No I didn't." He confirmed.

Tifa pointed to her husband's wrist, and there was a L'Cie brand.

"No!" he exclaimed. "Dammit! No! I cannot be a L'Cie!"

Reks, also spotted a L'Cie brand on his brother's chest. "No..."

 **AN: So...we have a new set of L'Cie...**


	7. Chaos vs Cosmos

**After the Fall**

 **Chaos vs. Cosmos**

 **AN: Warning! Violence, and a bit of a shocking scene towards the end of the chapter.**

Everybody was frantic. Cloud was staring down at the brand on his wrist in disbelief, muttering "damn", to himself. He usually remained stoic and expressionless, but everyone could see the blonde swordsman was straight off pissed. He angrily glared at Lightning and Snow, and the pink haired soldier glared back. Tifa was tugging her skirt down awkward, as her L'Cie brand on her right thigh was completely visible to the rest of the party members.

Squall was pacing back and forth, rubbing his right wrist through his jacket sleeve, seeming more agitated than upset about the brand. Tidus seemed in a state of shock as his wife confirmed that there was a L'Cie brand over the right side of her breast. Reks also looked completely helpless as Vaan absentmindedly traced the brand on his chest.

"Did you know of this!?" Cloud demanded to know from Lightning.

"No, Cloud. I did not know this would happen. I knew there was a Fal'Cie but I felt it pointless to mention it because I thought the Fal'Cies were no longer." Lightning explained.

"Well they are!" Cloud continued. "And now we're one of them! And unlike you, ours are progressing. We could become cieth!"

Yuna began to have a panick attack as soon as Cloud said that and Tidus quickly tried to calm her breathing.

"See, look, now she's freaking out." Tifa complained, crossing her arms.

"Everybody calm down!" Noel held out his hands as the arguing was about to escalate. A L'Cie brand could be seen on the front of his left hand. "If we become too emotional over this, it could escalate the progression more."

"How are we supposed to get rid of our brands!?" Tifa asked.

"You kind of can't." Snow explained.

"Then how do we get them like yours?" Squall asked, pushing his jacket sleeve up to get a good look at his own brand.

"You have to complete a focus." Lightning explained. "After you were branded, you should of have had some sort of dream or thought. It will be a bit hazy, but does anyone remember?"

"I don't." Cloud confirmed.

"Me neither." Tifa added.

Squall remained silent, seeming deep in thought. "Would we all have the same Focus?" He asked calmly.

"You should." Snow confirmed. "Everyone's been branded by the same Fal'Cie."

Another silence followed. "This is ridiculous!" Reks blurted. "How are they supposed to do what the Fal'Cie wanted if nobody can understand it. This is...ugh!"

Vaan stood up from where he was sitting on the ground, "I think...I remember something." He admitted. "It's kind of hazy...but I remember seeing...it looked like some creature. He was on fire, and he had muscles. He looked insanely powerful. Would any of you know him?" He asked the L'Cie.

"That doesn't sound familiar." Lightning confirmed, and Snow also shook his head.

"I did dream of a fire." Yuna added. "But...what are we supposed to do from that?"

"Are you supposed to defeat it?" Tidus asked, helping Yuna to her feet by the hand. She was still tentatively holding her brand, the sting still fresh.

"Noel." Squall called out to the hunter. "Do you remember what happened, before we came. Do you have an idea where Rinoa and Laguna could be?"

"We were swarmed by Cieth." Noel said. "I heard Rinoa screaming for help, and when I turned around she was being dragged by the leg around the corner. I couldn't get look at the one responsible. Then Laguna fought his way to try and follow her. That was literally the last time I saw them. I was unable to go after them because I was injured."

"We heard Laguna's scream." Lightning added. "I'm surprised he didn't come out of that debris."

"He was still in the tower?" Squall asked.

"It sounded like it." Reks added. "Far away though."

"We're wasting time." Squall said. "We should just get back to Oerba and inform the Major of what has happened to Laguna."

"You're not even going to try to look for your father?" Yuna questioned.

"He's a soldier. He knew the risk when he went scouting. And it is pointless to search through all that debris, when we need to try and figure out our focus. And Rinoa is still missing. I don't believe she was in a tower. Honestly, I don't even think Laguna was in the tower either. Maybe he was, but he may have escaped and left Noel."

"That's not true." Noel accused. "Whatever, you're too frustrating to talk to. Let's just get to Oerba, tell the soldiers, tell the other L'Cie."

"We're not telling Serah and Hope." Lightning told them. "Sazh should know, but not the others. They don't need to be involved. They've been through enough."

"We are probably going to need more L'Cie to h-" Tifa was cut off by Lightning's glare.

"I am not having my sister get in harm's way. She's not a fighter. And Hope has been through enough. And don't let that Terra know either."

"I think we should tell Terra." Snow told the soldier. "What? She is the oldest L'Cie. She probably has a better understanding of what the Focus could be."

"I say," Cloud spoke up, "we get to Oerba, inform the Major, then decide what to do from there."

"I agree with Sergeant Strife." Squall confirmed.

Lightning narrowed her eyes. "Fine."

Meanwhile, in Oerba. Serah was in a deep slumber when she was abruptly woken up by a nightmare. She dreamed that she lost her sister. That she was left behind to die. She dreamt that they were under attack. She dreamt that Snow abandoned her and went missing. She dreamt that she was alone.

All alone in Oerba. Nobody by her side. She was all by herself. She had to wipe the tears streaming from her eyes. She looked around and was shocked by how dark it had gotten. She must have slept the whole day. She remembered Snow checking in on her earlier letting her know he was going to be right back. He had even informed her about the Tantalus play, but she informed him she was really tired and just wanted to catch up on her rest.

Fang and Vanille's bed was extremely comfortable, it almost reminded her of her old bed back in Bodhum. She was visited by a bit of homesickness. _This is home now._ The idea didn't sound all too bad in her head. She stretched and threw the covers off of her. Her bare feet touched the cold floor and she checked outside to see what was happening, when she was greeted by the gloomy storm clouds overhead.

She quickly put on her shoes and was about to head on oyt the door when she heard frantic knocking. Hoping it to be Snow, she opened the door and was almost knocked down by a moogle launching at her. "Kupokupokupo!"

"Mog?" She asked, closing the door, and pulling the moogle back as he tried to get his bearings. "What's wrong?"

"We're under attack, kupo! Bad men are trying to hurt everyone! I wanted to see if you were okay, kupo!"

"We're under attack?" She gasped, feeling her heart beat in her chest at an uncomfortably fast pace. "By who?" She demanded to know.

"I don't know, kupo! Just some bad people! Noel never came back!"

"He's still not here!?" She continued to question.

"Snow and Light also went to find him, but they never returned either, kupo!"

Serah felt fear well up inside her. _No, my dream is coming true._

Suddenly the door swung open and Rygdea burst in. "Serah! Are you alright? Nobody came in did they?"

"No."

He grabbed the girl's hand with his left, his rifle in his right and almost yanked her out of the house. "We gotta get you to the Bar! It's the most fortified building in the whole town!"

Rygdea ran with Serah throughout Oerba, and they encountered more spawns. Serah screamed at the sight. "Hang on, girly!" He commented and he shot at the creatures, creating a path. Serah grabbed a tighter hold on Rydea and squeezing her eyes shut.

When they got to the restaraunt, Sazh was just exiting. "Where you going, Sazh?" Rygdea demanded to know.

"Bartholomew sent me out to find Hope!" He confirmed.

"He's out there still?" Rygdea questioned, letting go of Serah's hand.

"Well he's not here. Neither is Cloud's son. They could possibly be together." Sazh confirmed. "Serah, you get inside, the Guardian Corps will protect you here."

Sazh then ran off in search of the fourteen year old L'Cie. Serah saw a giant squid-like creature heading towards Sazh and fled into the building with Mog. "Serah!" Lebreau hugged the shaking girl and led her to where the other children, including Dajh were hiding in the back of the bar.

Ruby was panicking with her other play members, while Marlene was holding Inu's hand, biting her nails as none of her family was close by. Gadot, Captain Firion, and Lieutenant Luneth exited the bar with their weapons, taking their places as the frontline defenses.

Yuj, Maqui, and Sergeant Bartz stayed by the windows with their guns and sword in hand in case of a break in. The two NORA members then discovered the stairs that could give them a better vantage point. Lebreau grabbed her rifle and followed Yuj up the stairs leaving Maqui and Bartz on the ground floor.

Meanwhile, Sazh had managed to hide out in one of the houses, (he remembered it belonging to the Leonharts) just as the giant squid creature passed over. Knowing he would eventually have to find it, he wanted to also keep an eye out for PSICOM.

There was only the Major and Commander on the field as far as he knew. Laguna probably is with Hope as well as Amodar.

When he exited the house he suddenly heard a "Hey!"

Sazh turned around with his guns drawn. A tall muscular man with tattoos and messy hair stood before him. He wasn't wearing a shirt, or shoes for that matter, and he was wielding a heavy, black and red, two handed sword. "Who are you?" Sazh demanded to know.

"I am one of them knights of Chaos. That makes us enemies, man." The man said casually with a lopsided grin.

"Chaos. Is that what is happening right now. I mean, makes a hell of a lot of sense. Compared to anything else." Sazh half joked.

The man let out a bellowing laugh. "So you're a funny guy. I like you." He drew his sword. "Too bad I have to kill you."

Sazh fired his gun, and the bullets buried deep within the man's exposed chest. He looked down at himself simply. "What the hell?" Sazh questioned aloud.

The bullets fell out of his chest like it was nothing. "Not a bad shot, L'Cie." He then charged at him with his sword, fire trailing behind him. Sazh conjured up a protect spell and it shielded him from the attack, but still knocked him back a good few yards. Sazh quickly jumped back to his feet as the man beckoned him.

Sazh pulled the Eidolith from his chest. "I summon, Brynhildr!" He quickly shot the crystal open, conjuring his Eidolon.

The man laughed. "Two can play at that game, man!" He then reached into his own chest, and Sazh only then recognized the tattoo on his chest to be a L'Cie brand. It didn't appear to be a Cocoon or a Pulsian brand, which raised several questions. "Sin!"

He easily smashed the Eidolith in his hand and the ground opened up, engulfing the man in it. The man shapeshifted and grew before Sazh's eye. The man transformed into an Eidolon. He resembled his human form, but was the size of a building. Sazh allowed Brynhildr to take the beast on in battle, but he was doing several devastating attacks, and he was flexible.

Sazh debated searching for Hope while his Eidolon was distracted but didn't trust to leave himself alone.

Major Brody and Commander Harvey had just arrived at the scene. They charged at Sin with their swords, but they were barely scraping the surface. Commander Harvey was easily smacked aside, and he collided into the schoolhouse. Major Brody barely avoided another attack as he approached his comrade. Sazh called on to Brynhildr to activate her Gesault mode. They needed to find Hope.

"Hey! Major! Over here!" Sazh opened the car door for the PSICOM soldiers, helping the unconcious Harvey in. He drifted the car just as Sin approached them, and fired the exhaust at his face before taking off.

"Here, Major. You take the wheel." Sazh switched positions with the soldier.

"How do I drive?"

"Like any car." Sazh confirmed. He connected his guns together and created an assault rifle and fired at the Eidolon jogging after them, his laugh echoed through the city as they drove through. The bullets weren't doing much, and he appeared to be immune to fire. But it was slowing him down until hopefully Snow comes back.

Rygdea was shooting down every single spawn that they came across. Luneth was quick with his sword, Gadot was a power house with his shotgun. Firion was brave enough to get close and personal with the spawns, slashing them up with the flurry of his own sword.

Rygdea was shocked when he spotted Hope and Denzel running in their direction, while Amodar was piggy backing Laguna. "Hope! Where we you, Sazh just left to go find you!"

"He did!?" Hope exclaimed just as Bartholomew ran out of the bar to bring his son in.

A loud screech could be heard as a light purple dragon could be seen flying overhead. "Everyone inside!" Amodar commanded, and everybody fell back.

Except Hope. Bartholomew called out to his son. "Don't worry, I have a plan!" The silver haired teen reached into his wrist and pulled out his star shaped eidolith. He threw the crystal in the air and shot a powerful holy spell, breaking the crystal open. "Alexander!"

The clouds opened up and the fortress in the sky came to the rescue, landing directly in front of the bar, protecting the bar from damage. Alexander reached his hand out and Hope mounted on. Rygdea guided Bartholomew back inside, and Lebreau and Yuj climbed through the window onto the Eidolon with Hope, to get a better view of the battlefield.

"You two handle the spawns. Alexander will take care of the dragon." Hope informed the NORA members.

"Roger that," Lebreau confirmed, aiming her assault rifle at one side as a group fof spawn started scratching the side of the Fortress. Yuj balanced himself on the edge and threw a grenade down at a particularly big clump.

Hope fired a laser beam at the flying dragon but missed. The dragon was obviously teasing, dipping around the night sky like he was putting on a show for the L'Cie. The dragon laughed, he actually laughed, and morphed into a human.

"What the hell?" Yuj asked aloud.

The man was lean and wore a crop top with puffy purple pants. He had a feminine face with long white hair. He was smirking and flying around. He then shot a powerful blue violet orb at the fortress, knocking Yuj over the side. He landed with a thud on the other side.

"Yuj!" Lebreau exclaimed.

"Get him up, Alexander!" Hope ordered as he continued to try and aim at the dancing villain.

Before the swarm could engulf the defenseless Yuj, a screeching sound alerted everyone on Sazh's arrival! "Sazh!" Lebreau called out just as Alexander rescued Yuj in the nick of time.

"We need to get the Commander inside!" Sazh informed Hope. "Hurry, there's-"

Sazh was interrupted by Sin charging their way. He was almost the size of Alexander. Brynhildr was dismissed, and Major Brody and Sazh quickly moved the Commander into Alexander's palm with Yuj and they were able to enter the bar through the window.

Hope's eyes widened when the flying man and the fiery Eidolon then at the same time conjured up the violet orb and a fireball respectively. "Lebreau get inside!" Hope told the woman.

But it was too late and they launched, damaging the side of the bar, and knocking Hope off of Alexander, he landed right next to Sin.

Denzel and Captain Firion ran out to help Lebreau, who landed closest. Denzel caught sight of the unconcious Hope and ran to him instead while Firion carried Lebreau inside.

Denzel drew his own sword just as a black, winged Eidolon joined the party.

Lightning and her party arrived in Oerba, their weapons drawn. Tidus was carrying the weakened Yuna. "Are we under attack?" Reks questioned.

"Come on," Snow beckoned Tidus. "You come with me. I'm sure the others found a safe place to hide!"

Snow led Tidus and Yuna in the direction of the bar, while Reks and Vaan followed them.

Noel drew his swords, leading Lightning and the rest towards the schoolhouse.

While Snow was searching for the refuge, they were attacked by a man in a sky blue armor with a horned helmet. He was also wielding a sword. Tidus and Yuna went on ahead while Snow took on the enemy.

The enemy released an aura of violent energy and Snow quickly intiated his steelguard, bouncing the energy back at him. He vanished and reappeared right where Snow was standing, knocking him back. Snow launched in the air, encasing his gloved hand with ice and performed 'Sovereign Fist', punching the ground where the blue suited man originally stood.

"It had to be a teleporter." Snow muttered. Snow relocated the man and charged at him, but he was quick to put up his own protect spell, blocking the attack. The protect spell disappeared within the armored man's hand and he shot out a light beam that knocked Snow so far he collided into something else.

Tidus watched as Snow slammed against a fiery creature. The creature laughed and he morphed back into his human form. The blitzball star almost dropped his wife as he recognized him. "J-jecht?"

The man, Jecht, faced Tidus and after a long pause, he grinned evilly and laughed. "Hey, son. Look who is all grown up."

Blank, one of the members of Tantalus, pulled Tidus back into the bar, leading him to where Laguna was recovering. Tidus placed Yuna next to him while Serah suddenly bombarded him with questions. "Were you with Snow? Is everyone back? Are they alright? What happened? Where are they?"

Tidus could barely hear her, still trying to wrap his head around what just happened.

"Snow is still outside." Blank told Serah. "I just saw him!"

Vaan and Reks finally made it to the bar, "Guys!" Vaan exclaimed. "Snow is in trouble! We need more soldiers out there!"

Bartz was about to head out when Major Brody yelled at him. "The people here are top priority. We already have plenty of people on the field."

"Are you crazy!" Vaan argued. "That's not enough!"

Bartholomew then stood up, having just spoken to Marlene. "Bring Hope and Denzel inside, and we'll exchange some soldiers."

"Hope and Denzel?" Reks asked. "They are not in here?"

"What do you mean?" Bartholomew questioned. "They went outside to fight, you must have missed them."

"They are not out there, Bartholomew." Tidus confirmed. "Only Firion, Luneth, and some of the NORA people."

Bartholomew ignored the Major as he bursted back out of the bar, Tidus following close behind. He scoured the battlefield. Captain Firion and Lieutenant Luneth were fight the strange white haired flyer, while Gadot and Maqui were shooting their guns at Jecht, which seemed futile.

Snow was struggling to his feet.

The younger boys were nowhere in sight. "Where are they!?" Bartholomew demanded.

"Somebody took them." Yuj confirmed as he came into view. "We couldn't stop them."

Snow clambered to his feet. "Is Serah...?"

"She's alive, Snow." Yuj confirmed.

Hope woke up to the sight of Oerba flying below him. He quickly realized that he was the one flying. Being held by his leg, he felt the blood rushing to his head. He heard Denzel struggle as well against the strong clutch of the Eidolon. Thinking fast, Hope casted holy, but was only able to free himself. "AH!" He screamed as he fell from the sky.

"Hope!" Denzel screamed after his friend.

Hope was sure he was falling to his death, but was shocked when he felt somebody catch him. He gasped at the contact. "I got you, Hope." Noel told the silver haired teen.

He helped himself to his feet and was surprised to see Noel and Squall together. "You two are back." He said.

"We had to split the party up," Squall informed him. "Make sure nobody got left behind."

Hope absentmindedly caught a glimpse of the front of Noel's hand. When the hunter caught sight, he let out a nervous chuckle. "It's uh...a long story."

"Enjoying your little chat?" A deep voice interrupted the conversation. Noel, Hope, and Squall all drew their weapons and caught the sight of a dark cloud. A man in purple armor emerged from the shadows.

Noel gasped. "Caius?"

"You know this man?" Squall asked.

"He's my mentor...and friend. He disappeared a year ago. But why Caius? Why are you here? Why are you doing this! This is not the Caius I remember!"

"I have been reborn, Noel Kreiss. I am now a knight of Chaos."

"What does that mean?" Hope questioned.

"I am disappointed in you, Noel." Caius continued. "I thought you would have been stronger. But it seems you are just as weak and pathetic as I left you that day. You couldn't even keep your scout mates from dying in that tower."

"Was that you!?" Noel continued, "was that you in the tower! You were the ones that killed them. Not the cieth!"

Realization dawned on Squall. "You took Rinoa. Where is she you bastard!"

Caius smirked. He then pulled something out from behind him and tossed it at Squall. It was Rinoa's blue duster.

Stained in blood.

"She was of no use to me." Caius confirmed. "I had to dispose of her."

Squall stared at the giant hole in the material and threw it aside. "You're lying!"

Caius's eyes glowed a red, and he was engulfed in the black smoke again. "Bahamut." He muttered.

He then morphed into the dragon Eidolon, and breathed mega flare. The trio ran trying to avoid the crashing debris that was headed in their direction. Squall was the last one to make it out, and he crossed his arms together, unknowingly casting protect on himself. He peered over and was shocked by his ability.

The trio continued their trek.

Cloud and Tifa had split off from Lightning to search for more survivors. The blonde swordsman glared down uncomfortably at his brand.

They were then surrounded by shadow fiends. Tifa took it upon herself to handle the swarm with her martial arts. Cloud was also attacked by an overwhelming amount of shadow fiends, and drew his broadsword. He hollered as he took on the fiends.

Tifa spun around for a roundhouse kick and was surprised by the purple electricity that coursed through from the brand on her thigh to her foot. The impact against the fiend caused them to let out a squeak and they bounced off another fiend.

Tifa looked down at her hands and saw the coursing purple sparks and smirked a bit. She clenched her fists, the electricity crackling in her palm and she punched another fiend and threw it at another, taking them down easily. "Yeah!"

At the bar, Yuna opened her eyes and sat up from the floor. "Oh, Yuna!" Marlene said in happiness. "You're awake. Tidus went back to fight but he was worried about you. Are you hurt?"

Yuna was surprised that there was no pain in her body. She looked over and saw a battered Laguna shivering. "Does he have a fever." Yuna quickly got to work.

"Yuna, dear," Ruby spoke up. "You can't work under your condition, you need more rest."

Yuna sighed as she rested her hand on Laguna's forhead to check his temperature. Her had glowed white and her eyes widened. She felt something flowing through her veins and pulled her hand away with a gasp.

Laguna's eye fluttered and sat up. He lifted his shirt, and the wounds her previously had were starting to mend. Yuna covered her mouth in surprise. "Did I do that?" She said aloud.

"That was something I saw that boy do before." Cinna confirmed.

Yuna looked down her front at the glowing L'Cie brand, it being visibile through her top. Vaan spoke up on her behalf. "I'll explain what happened." He volunteered.

Back with Cloud and Tifa, Tifa was starting to lose energy. "I thought the L'Cie powers make you stronger!" She complained aloud.

Something collided into a nearby building, Tifa right in the line of debris. Cloud reacted quickly, breaking a path through the remaining shadow fiends. Cloud slammed his fists into the ground, and the building shifted in response and instead crashed into the neighboring building. He knelt down next to Tifa to check up on her when she saw her face transition into anger.

He followed her gaze and rose to his feet. The cause of the building falling was a familiar man with long flowing silver hair. "General Sephiroth." Cloud said aloud.

"Cloud Strife. It is good to see you again." He greeted, his cool, chilling voice felt too surreal for the struggling couple.

"You're responsible for this." Tifa accused.

Sephiroth chuckled coldly. "I am flattered that you will give me so much credit. I have a very small role to play here, unfortunately." He had a wicked grin, and he yanked forward Denzel.

"No!" Cloud exclaimed. "Let him go, Sephiroth!"

"Be careful, Cloud." Sephiroth warned, he raised his katana to the young man's throat. "What have we learned about getting too close."

Before Cloud could react, Sephiroth slit the young man's throat, stealing Denzel's life in under a second. He laughed at the reactions from the Strifes and tossed him carelessly forward, right in front of them.

"NOO!" Tifa screamed. "NO!" She began to sob, clutching onto the man she raised for the past twelve years. "THAT BASTARD!"

Cloud could only watch as Sephiroth disappeared into the night.

Lightning was trying to shoot down a rather colorful enemy who was dancing around the classroom. The enemy was skipping, laughing maniacally every time Lightning missed. "Oh, bummer!" He laughed, "you can barely keep up with little ol' me!"

Water rushed into the schoolhouse and in a panick, Lightning escaped through the window. "What the...?" She began to question at the streams flowing. She then saw a boat sail in, Terra riding at the helm.

"This way, Lightning!" Terra beckoned.

Lightning somersaulted over just as Kefka came in for a hit. "Run, run, run as fast as you can!" The clown laughed. "You can't catch me, I'm the L'Cie Wo-Man!"

"Don't assume he isn't a threat because of his playful manner." Terra warned Lightning, "that in fact makes him more dangerous."

"You know him?"

"It's a long story!" Terra was interrupted by the boat turning on it's own. "I can't steer!" She exclaimed.

The boat began to spin on it's own, going faster and faster. Lightning caught sight of the white haired man using some sort of magic to make the water surrounding the boat cause a whirlpool. The clown was able to jump on. Lightning and Terra drew their weapons, but the force of gravity was forcing them to the ground.

Except for the jester who took the steering wheel (for no apparent reason) and began singing. " _We're sinking into the ground! The town's overrun by blood hounds! Death and destruction is everywhere! And it makes me-"_ He then cackled psychotically as the finish.

Terra informed Lightning that if she dismissed her Eidolon, they could drown. Just when all hope is lost, a bright light appeared in the sky. The clown gasped dramatically. "Kuja! She's here early, we havta' RETREAT!"

The man, Kuja, transformed into a dragon, and Kefka hopped on, disappearing into a fiery red portal. The Eidolon dismissed and the whirlpool faded from underneath. Terra and Lightning were drenched in the leftover pool.

Lightning coughed at the water in her lungs and Terra hurriedly approached her, patting her back. "Hey, are you alright?" She asked considerately.

Lightning ignored her kindness and watched as a tall woman in a white gown and flowing gold hair appeared in Oerba. The two L'Cie approached her, rejoined by their comrades. Almost the whole village gathered as the woman looked down at the inhabitants.

"Who are you?" Major Brody demanded to know.

"I am Cosmos." She introduced. "I was awakened from my slumber from your cries. The fateful day have arrived."

"Oh, great, more mumbo jumbo." Tidus muttered.

"I apologize for not coming sooner." She apologized. "Here." She opened her palms and white lights soared all around them. The city was being restored to the way it was before.

By that, the city was restored to even before the War of Transgression, five hundred years ago. Lightning felt a warm sensation fill up her body, and she extended her hand out to see her rose shaped crystal. Her reflection could be seen through it.

She closed her palm and the crystal disappeared. While all this was happening, where they stood in the Village Proper, a white tree sprouted, and a see through orb surrounded everyone within range. The floors rose, surrounding the tree, and on top, a white throne potruded. Cosmos gracefully turned, her hair and gown flowing behind her and she climbed up the appearing steps to her seat.

She sat down, like a queen.

"What is this about?" Commander Harvey demanded to know.

"This is the first phase of the end of the world." She informed them.

"The end of the world?" Reks question.

"I was brought back to save the souls of the innocent." Cosmos informed. "And I need the help of the L'Cie to do that.


	8. Fenrir

**After the Fall**

 **Fenrir the Wolf**

PSICOM, the new and old L'Cie (except for Cloud and Tifa, Lightning noticed), and the Guardian Corps were gathered around Cosmos's throne as she told the entire story.

"It began with the War of Transgression." She started. "The armies of Pulse attempted to invade Cocoon. The Cocoon's government, the Sanctum's Fal'Cie were able to repel the lowerworld forces before they breached Cocoon's interior. But not before they managed to severely damage areas lying near the outer world's rim.

"The Sanctum's swift and decisive response the Pulsian transgression minimized casualities and greatly boosted public faith in both the Sanctum and their Fal'Cie."

Major Brody spoke up. "So...Cocoon and Gran Pulse were both at fault."

Cosmos nodded. "Gran Pulsians believed that many of their resources were stolen by the Cocoonians. These Cocoonians were once Gran Pulse. They were lulled by the Fal'Cie with a promise of paradise. The Gran Pulsians believed the Cocoonians were a source of evil. The Cocoonians believed the Gran Pulsians to be barbarians."

"They both hated each other." Squall confirmed. "The Fal'cie on Cocoon, probably Eden. And the Pulse invading we both causes of the war."

"Precisely." Cosmos confirmed.

"Do you have proof?" Captain Firion asked.

"I was there." Cosmos added. "I saw everything. I see everything. The past, the present. Even the future."

"You can see the future?" Serah asked.

"Yes, I sense the end of the world. And this is where it sets in motion. Today."

"We saw people fighting for the other side." Tidus commented. "Like...my dad."

"Yeah," Noel added. "My mentor too. He referrred to himself as a Chaos knight."

"Chaos," Cosmos began, "is our enemy. He is the one who wants to end the world. He has awoken, and gathered an army. As of now, I do not know where his base is. So as of now, I do not know what his exact plans are."

"What about our brands?" Vaan questioned, gesturing to himself. "Can we stop the progression?"

"I'm afraid, the only way to cease progression is to complete your focus."

"Do you know what it is?" Yuna asked. "We don't understand what it wants us to do."

Cosmos shook her head. "I apologize my dear, but that is for only you to decipher. If this gives your mind any rest, your Focus must be aligned with the end of the world."

"You're saying," Noel said, "As long as we follow the steps to prevent the end, we could hault the progression."

"That sounds extremely hard." Laguna commented.

"Our journey was no walk in the park either," Sazh commented. "We thought we would never complete our focus. We were _this_ close to becoming cieth."

"Do not fear, my heroes," Cosmos sighed, "I have faith that you will complete your focus, ultimately defeat Chaos, and save the souls. This is your destiny."

Squall scoffed. "Destiny. Everyone here just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"Squall..." Hope tried to calm the Commander down.

"She claims to be a goddess, but I bet she won't even be able to tell us where Rinoa is!"

Cosmos remained silent at Squall's fury.

Just then a twinkling sound can be heard behind everyone and Tifa appeared seeming confused and angry at the same time.

"I am glad to see you are well, Tifa Lockhart." Cosmos greeted.

Tifa narrowed her eyes at the goddess. "Who are you?"

"Where's Cloud?" Snow asked.

Tifa crossed her arms at him. On closer inspection, it appeared Tifa's eyes were red and puffy from crying. "Burying Denzel."

She quickly explained everything that happened during the fight. Most looked horrified, Cosmos seemed saddened, and Hope looked guilty.

"I had to just inform Marlene." She finished. "She's devastated. Denzel was like a brother to her."

"Should we speak to Cloud?" Lightning asked.

Tifa stared at Lightning in disbelief. "Let him mourn, Farron. Cloud has had to deal with loss his entire life. Now the one thing that ever kept him going is gone." Her voice cracked when she said that.

"I just thought...I'd give my condolences." Lightning added.

Tifa didn't look angry, but just...depressed, and tired. She silently came the way she entered and Lightning followed her.

Everyone was given a recess to relocate their families and check to see if they are alright. Hope was following his father to their home when he stopped walking, staring down at the ground. Bartholomew noticed his son's hault. "Son, what is wrong? Are you hurt?"

Hope wrung his hands together nervously, and felt tears well up in his eyes. "it's...it's my fault, dad." He sniffled.

"What are you talking about son?" Bartholomew asked, kneeling down so he can look at him. "What happened?"

Hope started wiping the tears from his eyes using the back of his hand, "I don't remember, but Denzel was coming to save me. We were being carried by a flying Eidolon, and I could only save one of us. I freed myself. My powers weren't strong enough to get us both. I was...I thought I was going to die when I fell but Noel was there to catch me just in time. I shouldn't be-"

"Don't finish that sentence." Bartholomew ordered, pulling his son into a hug. "You tried your best. You can't save everyone."

Squall found Laguna walking out of the bar. When the older man saw him, he didn't give his usual goofy grin and wave, but instead sighed heavily, not making contact.

"Laguna. I need to know what happened to Rinoa." He quickly cut to the chase.

Laguna still wasn't looking up and remained silent. He looked like he just wanted to run. "I'm so-"

"What happened to Rinoa?" Squall repeated angrily this time, and Laguna flinched. "I do not want to hear any apologies, any 'I shouldofs'. What. Happened?"

Laguna let out a shaky sigh. "She's dead." Squall remained expressionless but you could see his jaw clench. "I...saw her get run through by this man in purple armor. Then she fell, blood pouring out of her sweater."

"You left her there."

"I..." Laguna cleared his throat as tears welled up. "I couldn't walk. I crawled to her. Then I was shooting the man in armor...and something, drove through my side here." He lifted his shirt to where a large scar remained. "It lifted me up and threw me over the side of Taejin's Tower. I then saw the man and an army heading towards Oerba and I rushed to warn everyone."

Squall crossed his arms.

"I know I sweared to keep her alive. I'm sorry, s-" Squall smacked Laguna's hand away.

"Do not talk to me." He muttered as he walked away in a rage.

Tears streamed down Laguna's face, Tidus and Yuna watched the whole thing and when it was over, they continued on to check up on their son at the bar.

Lebreau was comforting a crying Marlene. Serah entered the bar, nearly getting hit by a running Inu. "Marlene." Serah called out to the girl. She didn't look up. "I am...so sorry about Denzel." Serah could feel her own tears well up.

"We've lost so many people." Lebreau commented. "During the journey here. Like Penelo, Rinoa, now Denzel."

Serah looked down at the brand on her arm.

Cloud finished burying Denzel's body with a shovel he took from Lenore's Garage. _I'll be sure to pay the kid later._

He then held up Denzel's sword. The weapon he passed down to him when he was just sixteen years old. Cloud thought about how he never had the time to properly train his son with it. Denzel tried to learn on his own, but he never was able to mentor him.

He glared at the weapon and shoved it at the head of the grave. Cloud tried to consider himself lucky. The Ratsbane's sister's grave was quite a journey to get to. And she committed suicide. Although at this point, Cloud is starting to believe Vaan that she was lured. The Commander's wife's body is completely missing. All he has left of her is her blood stained sweater.

Cloud sat down and stared out like he usually does. Denzel was adopted, but he raised him like his own blood. He watched him grow up. No matter what, it is the hardest thing to have your child die before you. That is just not how the world is supposed to be. Anger bubbled up inside him and he screamed to the sky, cursing everyone and everything. The action caused his brand to burn.

 _Dammit, I must have caused it to progress._

But then he ignored the thought. At this point he didn't cared what happened to him. "Cloud!" Tifa's voice returned.

He turned around as she arrived, _Why the hell did she bring Farron!?_

"I told you to leave me be, Tifa!"

"Cloud, Denzel was my son too!" Tifa yelled at him. "I am just as devastated!"

Cloud's brand burned intensely causing him to wince. "It's all her fault!" He accused Lightning. "Everything was fine until you came along! This is why L'cies are meant to be exterminated!"

"We didn't do anything," Lightning tried to reason, pulling a confused Tifa back.

The brightness of Cloud's brand resonated, causing him to collapse to his knees. Black and silver patterns appeared around him. "Those people we were fighting! They were L'Cie! And they were morphing into those creatures you summon! They wanted to come for you, but they hurt us instead!"

"Cloud," Tifa tried to reason, "please calm down!"

"I've lost enough people. Family, my friends, just leave me **be**!" A bright light beamed into the sky. The ground began to shake and Cloud jumped out of the way as the beam summoned the moon. An Eidolon could be seen heading towards them.

They jumped out of the way as he crash landed. The dirt and rocks covering the trio. Cloud drew his buster sword. "He's not an enemy, Cloud." Lightning explained. "He's your Eidolon. In order to claim him, you have to do what he asks."

"How am I supposed to know that?" Cloud asked.

"You can talk to each other in your heads. Just ask him what it takes for him to serve you and he will tell you. He will let you know his name."

Cloud seemed confused by the idea. The Eidolon was tall and black, shiny and a bit bulky. He had a head of a silver wolf. His hands had silver claws. _**I am Fenrir. I will serve a master who amass chain bonuses.**_

Fenrir pointed his long claw at Cloud and a timer started over his head. "Relentless Assault!" Cloud ordered. He took the commando position while Lightning and Tifa took Ravagers. Lightning used her sparkstrike to start the chain, and Tifa assisted her with her electric martial arts.

As soon as the ladies stepped back, Cloud slashed his buster sword at him, causing him to get launched in the air. _**I will serve a master who protects their party members.**_

As Tifa came in for a kick, the Eidolon grabbed her by the leg and twisted her whole body in the air, causing her to clatter, exhausted right next to Denzel grave. Just as Fenrir was going to a devastating attack, Cloud rushed to her rescue and blocked the attack with his sword. Lightning quickly helped the woman up.

Cloud sheathed his sword and the Eidolon began to morph into a black and silver motorcycle. He howled as he pulled up next to Cloud and the trio.

"Congradulation, Cloud." Lightning said. "Your first Eidolon."

When Lightning, Cloud, and Tifa arrived back in Oerba, Cosmos was calling the L'Cie back to her Ark.

"Do you have a plan, Cosmos?" Sazh asked.

"I believe we must require the aid of Vayne Solidor." She mentioned. "He is to be the new Primarch of Cocoon."

"You're saying there are people still remaining in Cocoon?" Terra asked.

"Yes. Some have survived the fall. But in order to get to Vayne, we will need to navigate through the Narthex. Eden is still heavily overrun by cieth and other Pulsian creatures. It is a dangerous territory."

"I suggest we send in a small group." Noel said.

"I'll go." Snow volunteered.

"I'll go with him." Reks also stepped forward. "I'm sure we can handle anything there."

"We will need at least one more L'Cie and a group of soldiers." Squall added.

"I'll go." Cloud volunteered.

"Are you sure, Cloud?" Tifa asked worriedly.

"I need to do this."

His wife nodded in understanding. Cosmos rose from her throne and headed for a platform that stood on the other side of the room. She raised her hand and a portal appeared within the Ark. "This can get you to Eden." Cosmos informed the trio who were already approaching the portal.

"Is it safe?" Reks asked curiously.

"I promise, you will remerge from the other side, unscathed."

Serah stepped forward and embraced Snow. "Be careful."

"Don't worry. I always am." They kissed making Cloud roll his eyes and Reks chuckle in response.

"Alright lovebirds!" Sazh called out to them.

Snow and Serah moved away, and Cloud was the first to step into the different dimension.

 **AN: Sorry this chapter was so short you guys. There was so much action in the previous chapter I wanted to just do a sort of 'transition' chapter.**


	9. Eden

**After the Fall**

 **"It Couldn't Get Any Worse"**

 **AN: I feel like we are at the part now where the story is truly progressing, as well as the dialogue. I am aware alot of the dialogue in previous chapters were pretty mediocre, but there was just so much ground to cover in the first chapters. Now that the story is getting more episodic, there is time to flesh out the story, the lore, the world, the characters, and their relationships.**

 **Warning: There is blood in this chapter.**

"Reks!" Snow shook the PSICOM cadet as he slunk against a large chunk of debris. Snow was holding his head up straight as Reks's eyes flickered.

Cloud himself was even breathing a little harder than usual, hands on his hips. "We've been at this for hours. All night, it's almost morning. We need to rest."

"I know, I just wanted to make sure he's not comatose." Snow continued to shake the cadet's shoulders, worriedly. "Reks, come on. Wake up. You were hurt pretty badly in the last fight."

"He didn't look like he handled the transport too well, either." Cloud added in, kneeling beside the larger L'Cie as Reks was starting to come to. "This place is probably the safest as we can do at the most. A few hours rest, then we can keep moving. Two hours?"

"Yeah, sounds good." Snow confirmed. "I'll do watch for the first hour."

Cloud nodded silently and began to make a small rest area using his Guardian Corps vest as a pillow. Snow took a seat next to Reks, stretching his massive arms over his head, yawning. "I feel like this trip is pointless." Snow caught Cloud saying underneath his breath.

"Hey, we're trying our best here. We don't have many leads."

"We're listening to some woman who was asleep for the past hundred years, claiming to be a goddess. She could just be a powerful L'Cie." Cloud rose his arm up where is brand is and traced the markings. "If she woke up any earliar, she could have..."

Snow understood what Cloud meant without him even finishing his sentence. She could have saved Denzel. Hell, she could probably have saved the others as well. Snow tried not to think about it. Cloud sighed, dropping his arm and instead placing it behind his head to adjust his makeshift pilow and closed his eyes.

Reks let out a shaky sigh, and Snow comfortingly placed his arm around the slightly older man's back. The cadet seemed mildly annoyed by the action, but was too tired to move it. "I can tell you're not much of a fighter." Snow admitted.

Reks made a weird noise in the back of his throat, like Snow discovered a painful secret that he didn't want the world to know. "Why did you really join PSICOM?"

The cadet looked down, half embarassed but after a long silence he responded. "We were poor." He admitted. "My parents...they ran this small items shop near the Euride Gorge Plant, and we would help out. It was barely enough to make ends meet. We lived in a shabby two bedroom apartment. My mother and sister shared the master bedroom, while Vaan had a bed in the second bedroom. I slept in a sleeping bag in the same room while my dad had to sleep on the couch."

"PSICOM pays pretty well." Snow quickly understood.

"Hm. More than well. I joined at seventeen. My brother and sister were able to get a teacher to help them get an education, they were eating better. We had a second bed," he chuckled at that part. "We actually celebrated going furniture shopping. My family was so proud of me. Vaan and Penelo looked up to me." His face fell a bit. "The truth is...I was never really good. I remained a Cadet for six years. I just...prefered staying at base and taking care of things there than being on the field. I never told my parents that."

"So you joined for the money." Snow repeated. _Sounds almost like what Lightning did._

"When Cocoon was under attack, I...left with PSICOM. I heard that people were evacuated in Bodhum. When I got to Gran Pulse, Penelo was crying, Vaan was angry. Our parents were forced to stay behind because they reached the limit of people they can transport to Pulse. Vaan...saw them get killed by feral beasts on Cocoon as they were taking off."

Snow patted the cadet's back. "I'm sorry."

"And," Reks was close to tears now, "Now, my sister is dead, my brother is a L'Cie. I couldn't protect them! I am...the worse..." His lips began to quiver as tears fell.

"Hey, you're not alone in this." Snow told him. "I...was an orphan."

Reks looked up, seeming surprised. "I grew up in a Sanctum Orphanage in Bodhum with Gadot and Lebreau. Lebreau eventually got adopted, but Gadot and I busted out of there by the age of twelve. If I hadn't done that, eventually I wouldn't have created NORA. And if that hadn't happened...I wouldn't have met Serah." He paused a moment at the memory. "When Serah...told me she was a L'Cie...I...I loved her so much, I was willing to give my life to find a way to save her. Even after she crystalized, I never gave up on her. Did I blame myself? Hell yeah I did. But I kept going. Reks, you gotta keep going for Vaan. Being a L'Cie, he's gonna need you now more than ever."

Reks was listening intently to the larger man, then nodded. "You're right. I still got Vaan. He needs me."

"That's right." Snow continued to pat Reks on the back, a gesture he usually did to Yuj, Maqui, and Hope. Despite Reks being two years older than him, he felt like a young teen. _Good Genetics, I guess._

Snow then dug into the items bag he carried and handed him a potion. "Here, I'm not really good at healing magic. Hope's our best one."

"Thanks, Snow." Reks said as he gulped down the bottle, feeling the cuts and bruises mend. "You know, I was wrong about you L'Cie."

"We all were." Snow laughed and punched the cadet softly in the arm.

"Ow, I just had a potion." He joined in the laughter.

"Hey, I didn't punch that hard!"

"Can you both be quiet over there!" Cloud barked, agitated, keeping his eyes closed.

Snow and Reks both exchanged grins.

The next morning, Serah was checking up on Noel with Mog. She was pretty worried about him. The night before he turned in early, and he seemed sad. She assumed it had something to do with Caius. _It must be so shocking to have someone you look up to be your enemy the next time you see them._

She knocked on the door and was greeted to a sleepy Vaan. Noel was sharing a house with the Ratsbanes. "Good morning, Vaan. Is Noel home?"

Vaan shook his head, rubbing his eyes, "No, he left this morning."

Serah's heart sunk, "Did he mention where he was going?" She asked shyly.

Vaan just blinked for a moment and shook his head. "He said he just wanted to be alone."

Serah sighed. She would like to think the two became close despite knowing each other for such a short time. He was very polite and fun to be around. He told so many stories of life in Paddra, before everyone died out. She wanted to be there for him, but he seemed to rather be at a distance. "Okay, thanks anyway."

Vaan closed the door as Serah walked away. "I hope Noel is okay, kupo." Mog said.

"Me too. I also hope Snow's okay. He hasn't come back from Eden."

Snow was woken up by a boot in his leg. He groaned and swatted his arm in the direction. "Get up," Cloud ordered. "We need to move."

Snow groaned and stretched, yawning as he did so. Reks was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Can you stand up?" Cloud asked annoyed.

"Yeah." Reks answered, stretching.

"Then get up." Cloud ordered again.

"Geez, cranky." Snow muttered as he stood to his feet. "Just give us a few minutes."

"We do not have a few minutes. We are wasting time." Cloud said.

The larger L'Cie reached a hand out to Reks and pulled him to his feet. "You can fight?" Snow asked the Cadet.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Reks responded reassuringly, taken aback by the sudden glare Cloud threw his way.

"We should have brought someone else." Cloud muttered in annoyance to himself.

"He said he can fight, Cloud." Snow told the frustrated soldier. "Geez, this guy makes Lightning look like a sweet flowergirl."

Cloud paused in his step at the analogy, and Snow was afraid he was gonna get chewed out, but instead Cloud remained silent and continued.

The rest of the party followed Cloud as he self appointed himself as leader.

A little ways from where they rested, they approached the Skywalk. Snow gasped at the remaining Pulsian beasts. The entire city was infested by them. "This could be a problem." Cloud mentioned. "It is entirely possible that the new Primarch is in danger and is why Cosmos sent us to rescue him."

"That seems to be the case from the looks of it." Snow added.

The sound of incoming war mechs echoed through the Skywalk, and the trio got into battle stances. "Delta Attack!" Cloud ordered. The blonde soldier charged at the incoming mechs and spun in a 360 degree with his sword, causing a whirlwind to spiral out. Some of the mechs fell over the side.

Reks used his sword to take apart one mech but, it was made out of noticeably tough metal that the sword couldn't do much damage. When the mech tried to retaliate, Snow provoked the mech, as well as two others to come in his direction. The mechs followed and Snow used his steelguard to defend himself while Cloud, using his massive buster sword, was able to easily take the mechs down.

Once that was finished, Cloud shot Reks an annoyed look which made Reks sigh in insecurity.

"I'm going on ahead!" Cloud informed Snow and ran ahead of the party while Snow continued to handle the mechs. Reks continued to struggle against them, and eventually was able to take them apart. Slowly, but it was still better than how he was doing before.

"I trust Cloud to handle the bulk," Snow commented, "how the hell is he even able to hold that sword?"

Reks seemed more envious than impressed by Cloud's abilities. More mechs were being sent out and Snow was able to take down the three mechs with his bare hands alone. He took a needle to the arm, but grabbed the offending appendage and threw it off the Skywalk, effortlessly. Reks could only stand in awe. Snow was like a bear.

Snow grabbed hold of one remaining mech and brought it to Reks. "Now," he gestured to the opening where a core was emitting the energy. "Take out that core."

Reks shoved his sword into the mech and it short circuited, making Snow quickly drop it, wringing his hands from the sting. Reks dragged his sword out, now understanding their weakness. The Cadet seemed shocked by the mechs that they took down. "Hey, don't lose your focus here now." Snow warned the cadet. "Just let me stagger the enemies, then you finish them. Sounds like a good plan?"

Reks nodded. "Sounds good."

At the Village Proper, in front of Cosmos's Ark, Major Brody finally presented the Council Members.

Bartholomew Estheim, Jude Rygdea, Sazh Katzroy, and Amodar Wittenberg.

Everyone seemed satisfied with the final decision and everyone continued with their business. Serah approached Lightning. "Have you seen Noel? He's been gone all last night and all morning."

Lightning seemed a bit surprised by Serah's concern. "No. Why, you think he's up to something?"

Serah was taken aback. "No! I think he is sad. I wanted to talk to him."

"Serah, let him be. Not everyone wants to talk when they are sad." Lightning tried to reason with Serah.

The younger Farron crossed her arms. "Like you?"

Lightning shrugged. "Did you want to help out the bar or-"

"I'm just going to keep looking for Noel." Serah informed her sister.

"Fine. But, I'm telling you S-" Serah walked off before Lightning could finish. The soldier sighed, _She is always so determined to make others happy._

Serah was asking around the town of Oerba for Noel's whereabouts. She finally happened upon Tidus who was playing blitzball with the kids. "I thought I saw him go into the Wildlands out there." He informed her. "It's dangerous though."

"But Noel is there!" Serah tried to reason.

"But he's a hunter. He probably lived in those wilds for a time. He seemed really depressed. I think it's best to just let him be."

"Why is everyone telling me that! Noel is my friend. He did a lot for us. We should want to help him.

"Serah," Tidus tried again, "What happened yesterday at Oerba left everyone a bit somber. He saw his mentor is now with a faction that wants to end the world. I saw, my dad with them. People's families were killed by them. Please, everyone acts differently. Noel probably feels better being alone, I feel better playing blitzball with the kids."

Serah shook her head. She didn't get it. Why would Noel want to be alone? Why would anyone? Everyone was here to work together not to shut each other out. Tidus saw Serah make a sprint into the Wilds. "Dammit, Serah!" Tidus swore just as Yuna passed by. He quickly was running.

"Tidus, what's wrong?" Yuna called back.

Tidus looked around Oerba quickly for a familiar pink haired soldier. He spotted her and Gadot carrying cases of supplies to the bar. "Lightning!" He gasped.

"What do you want?" Lightning asked in annoyance.

"It's Serah! She went into the wilds!"

"What!" Lightning dropped the case onto Gadot's foot, making him screech in pain. He dropped his own crate right on top of the first one and screamed again.

"Careful with those!" Tifa lectured. "There are glass bottles in there!"

Lightning drew her gunblade and followed Tidus. Gadot slipped his foot from underneath the crates and waddled after them.

"Wait for me!" He called out.

Tifa bursted out of the bar with Lebreau following behind. "Where are they going!? We still have more stuff!"

Lebreau patted Tifa on the back. "Guess we gotta do it ourselves." Lebreau said, reaching down to pick up a crate.

Cloud continued on his way solo towards the Expressway, when he remembered. He sighed looking down at his brand. He remembered seeing the L'Cies do it, so he reached in and pulled out a silver cloud shaped crystal. _How creative,_ he thought to himself. He tossed the crystal upwards, "Fenrir!" He jumped up after it, slashing it open with his bustersword.

A bright light shined out of the crystal, and the moon overhead suddenly appeared, everything turned to night. Fenrir, like before, soared from the moon to where Cloud was. He didn't even have to explain why he was summoned, he was already getting into his gesault mode. Cloud climbed on, and he sped down the Expressway.

While speeding through, he heard the echoing sounds of the cieth. They were winged, flying at just the same speed as Cloud. He drew his bustersword with his right hand, and kept his left hand steering the Eidolon. He also trusted that the Eidolon wouldn't let him crash.

One cieth was coming in on his left and he slashed at it with his sword, spinning it over the opposite side to throw back the second winged cieth that was coming his way. He then saw a sort of Sentry Robot was coming down. Cloud tried to avoid the launched attacks, by attacking it with his buster sword. But it seemed all it was doing was bouncing back.

Cloud sucked his teeth in. He's going to have to try and use magic on it. _I need a lightning spell. How do I do that?_

He shethed his sword and raised his arm up, trying to conjure up lightning. Instead, wind shot out of his hand.

Of course, no damage.

Cloud cursed under his breath and tried again. Somehow he casted Quake, and the Expressway started to shake making it difficult to steer his motorcycle. "Dammit! Why is it so f***in' hard to cast a simple spell! Lightning, dammit!" He tried again.

He swore when he ended up healing the robot!

He then put on his goggles. Desperate times. "Time to go, Fenrir." He told his Eidolon. He revved the engine and the ground shook again, causing stepping stones as Cloud drove uphill.

The motorcycle made a loud revving noise and was followed by the howling of the wolf as Cloud redrew his buster sword and landed a severe hit on the Flying Robot. After the hit, Cloud rolled off his motorcycle. Fenrir, transformed back into his Eidolon form and was dismissed.

Cloud stood where he was in the middle of the Expressway and got into a battle pose. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins. He really needed just one more really good hit. He charged at the robot, avoiding the gunfire and jumped up, slashing unmercifully at the robot, tearing it up.

When he finished, he landed on his feet, proud. The Robot was about to self destruct as he heard a distress call being forwarded. It was muffled, so he wasn't sure if reinforcements were coming through.

Cloud ran down the Expressway, in case the robot destructs, and he needed to get out of the open area.

Using Mog, Serah was able to finally track down Noel. It took about thirty minutes of searching before finding the brown haired hunter, lugging a large behemoth effortlessly. Serah ran to him and Noel looked up in surprise. "Where were you?" Serah demanded to know.

Noel rose his eyebrows in confusion. "Hunting."

"Noel, we need to talk." Serah tried to reason.

"About what?"

"About Caius."

Noel stopped walking, dropping the behemoth. "I don't really want to talk about it, Serah."

"You have to Noel. It is the only way you can heal." Serah tried to get Noel to come clean.

"Serah, I'm fine." He seemed more annoyed than sad at this point. "I just went hunting for some food and now I am tired."

"Noel, you love hunting. Everytime you get back you are grinning from ear to ear!"

"Serah, this behemoth was just a hard catch." He was still trying to avoid the subject, and Serah was becoming impatient. Hands on her hips.

"Noel, please just talk to me."

"I can't talk to you!" Noel suddenly blurted. He clenched his branded fist and picked his behemoth up against attempting to drag it back. "Besides, it's dangerous here, you need to go back."

"I am not going back until I know you're going to be alright!" Serah was feeling tears well up in her eyes. She was really worried for her new friend.

"I am never going to be alright!" Noel yelled, dropping the behemoth again, he clutched his hand to his chest. "I am the last pulsian here! I have been all by myself! My father was killed by a fiend, my mother killed herself, my grandmother, then Yeul, then Caiu-" He punched the tree with his hand.

"Are you happy now Serah! Is that what you wanted to hear! For me to tell you how alone I am! How many people close to me I had to watch die! How I thought Caius was my only friend, and even he betrayed me!" Tears were streaming down his face as well as Serah's.

"I just-"

Noel collapsed on the ground, angrily wiping away the tears from his face, as he was summoning his Eidolon.

Lightning, Gadot, and Tidus came just in time as a tall and bendy Eidolon, in baby blue armor wobbled upward, wielding a matching lance.

"Tidus, get Serah out of here." Lightning ordered, drawing her gunblade while Gadot brought out his shotgun. Tidus grabbed Serah's hand and led her back the way they came.

Noel drew his dual swords. "Leviathan." He confirmed the name. "Yields to those who amass chain bonuses."

Noel clenched his fist and a fireball formed on his hand. He used the power to light up his blade with the flames and charged at the Serpent looking Eidolon. Lightning also assisted him with her sparkstrikes.

The Eidolon slithered like a snake, and wrapped it's body around Gadot who struggled in the Eidolon's clutch. He wriggled his shotgun out and fired at it's face, making it jump back with a scream. "Gadot! Stop! You're messing up the procedure."

Gadot swallowed when he saw the numbers above Noel's head fall significantly due to the action. "Sorry!"

Noel continued to attack the Eidolon with his flamestrikes, Lightning casting lightning from where she stood.

When Leviathan came in for an attack with his lance, Noel braced himself. "Steelguard!" He crossed his blades, causing a gold shield to form around him, and he was spared the seeming devastating attack.

The numbers were falling to the singles and Noel quickly claimed the Eidolon. Leviathan stretched in lank, and with an impressive twist of his form, turned into a sea serpent. He slithered underneath Noel, making him mount the Eidolon.

"That...was so cool." Gadot couldn't help but say.

Noel glanced down at the Behemoth that still needed to get carried, and realized that the Eidolon was a sort of saving grace, in more ways than one.

About an hour later, Snow and Reks finally arrived at the palace. "Is Cloud even here?" Snow asked aloud.

"He probably hasn't made it yet." Reks suggested.

"That doesn't make sense, he was way ahead of us." Snow said. "Something's not right." He suggested. "Cloud doesn't seem the type to get caught up. I think the Primarch is in danger. The Palace was unguarded and it looked like there was fighting through these hallways."

"What if the Primarch's dead?" Reks suggested.

"I-I don't know. I'm already pretty confused here. This doesn't seem like Pulsian beasts came in and attacked. It was infiltrated, by people."

"Like at Oerba?" Reks brought up.

"Maybe. Perhaps their soldiers."

Snow finally found the Primarch's Office, and the door was already kicked down. Nobody was inside. "Perhaps the Primarch escaped." He suggested.

"Or was kidnapped." Reks added. Snow shot him a look. "Sorry."

"You gotta learn to think more positive, Reks. You're not gonna get very far in life with that attitude." Snow was searching the desk for any information and in mid sentence was pushed forcibly out of the way, knocking him on his back with a grunt. He sat up and was face to face with a horrified looking Reks, blood dribbling down his mouth.

Snow gasped as Caius stepped into view. "Looking for someone?" He asked.

Caius pulled his giant sword out of Reks's chest and he crumpled onto the floor, breathing haggedly. Snow was about to help him when he was yanked upright by Jecht, he was easily stronger than Snow. "Now you don't go crying over your boyfriend now, he's useless."

Snow struggled against Jecht's hold, and Caius left Reks to die on the floor. Two more tall PSICOM soldiers came in, holding a bruised Cloud. He looked beyond angry with the outcome. That was when a tall man with long dark hair entered the Office. "Ah, L'Cie. I was expecting a visit from you."

"He's the Primarch." Cloud told Snow.

"Wha-"

"My name is Primarch Vayne Solidor."

"You're with Chaos!" Snow barked.

"Of course he is," Jecht laughed in his face. "Chaos is the powerful almighty being. He's going to make this new world great."

"Chaos has aided me in rebuilding Cocoon." Vayne added.

Snow continued to struggle. "You aren't rebuilding! Cocoon is a warzone, a battlefield!"

"Is that such a terrible thing." Vayne commented. "Pulse has got one thing right. You have to be tough in order to thrive in a city like Eden. In a world like Cocoon. You could live here. He could live here." He gestured towards the struggling Cloud, "We all could. Unfortunately, except for your friend there."

Reks was losing conciousness.

"All you need," Vayne continued his monologue, approaching Snow. "is Chaos. We can give you this power. Only the strong ones can sustain its power. Others...simply break. Come with us, join Chaos." He smiled as he said that.

The room began to shake, and just as one of the PSICOM soldiers asked what was going on, Cloud headbutted a soldier. He took his sword from the second soldier, and stabbed him with it. Caius drew his sword and Cloud blocked the attack.

Snow was still powerless against Jecht, as the Chaos warrior summoned a dark red portal, taking Snow with him. "Get Reks out!" Snow's voice was faint against Cloud's ears as the larger L'Cie disappeared.

Cloud continued to fight Caius, seeing a portal similar to Cosmos open up down in the ground. They were stories high, but they didn't have much choice. Cloud used his whirlwind move to throw Caius into the hallway. After doing so, the Office door shut behind him. Cloud shoved the giant bookcase in front of the door as Caius began chopping the door with his sword like an axe.

It was barely holding, but it gave Cloud enough time to throw the dying Reks over his shoulder, and break open the window. Caius was going in for the kill when Cloud jumped over the side of the building, towards the portal, and the two disappeared.

Caius watched as the portal closed, then he smirked. _They had no idea._

In Oerba, Lebreau was using the meat Noel caught and made an impressive behemoth stew.

Noel found Serah sitting sadly by the schoolhouse, and approached the sullen girl. "Serah." He greeted.

She looked up, pulling her knees up. "Hey."

"Look," Noel said embarassed. "I'm...sorry for lashing out at you. Lightning told me that it happens when the Eidolons come, it makes your hormones go all awry..."

Serah continued to stare down her hands.

"But...it was not fair to you. You were the first Cocoonian to show me kindness and I just...blew up on you. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me."

Serah smiled warmly at Noel, and surprised him with a hug. He remained stiff for a moment before slowly wrapping his hands around her. "That was probably the first time you've received a hug in a long time."

Noel smiled sadly. "Yeah. The last person to hug me like that was Yeul."

"Was Yeul...a girlfriend?"

Noel stared off, lost in thought. "It...was complicated."

"Is she...?"

"...yeah." Noel nodded, breathing hard. "She's...dead."

"I'm sorry. About...everything. You've had a hard life, Noel."

He stretched his legs out, putting his weight on his hands as he leaned back. Serah could see the brand on his hand and she worried if they were going to be able to complete their Focus before it extends. "You wanna know a secret?"

Serah nodded, leaning in closer as Noel's voice dropped to a whisper.

"When I saw all of these people. I was the most scared I've ever been in my entire life."

"Really?"

"Yeah. More scared than fighting my first behemoth."

"But you handled them just fine." She noticed.

"Yeah, but I was still terrified of them. The Major, the Commander..." He chuckled to himself. "For some reason, even Hope scared me."

Serah laughed, "Hope is not at all scary."

Noel laughed. You were all so...Cocoonian. I was sure you were going to terminate me on sight. Except you. You stood out to me. You...weren't scary at all. You..." Serah couldn't help but see the blush on his cheeks, "you kind of reminded me of Yeul. Small, gentle, pretty."

Serah grinned. "You think I'm pretty?"

Before Noel could continue, they heard a commotion coming from the Ark. Yuj and Maqui ran to the two. "Serah!" Maqui said. "Cloud and Reks are back!"

"What about Snow!?" Serah exclaimed.

Yuj frowned and Serah was running after them, Noel close behind.

Reks was being carried by Cloud, the Cadet layed wide eyed against Cloud's chest. Vaan was asking a million and one questions but Cloud didn't have any answers. Yuna helped Cloud get Reks into a bed while Vaan was holding his head in distress. Terra was hovering worriedly over him.

Serah pulled Cloud aside as Yuna checked for any wounds. "Where's Snow?" Serah demanded to know.

Cloud sighed. "They got him."

Serah covered her mouth and fell to her knees.

Yuna ran out of the clinic, "Hope!"

The silver haired teen seemed surprised by being called on to help in the Clinic, but he quickly followed the nurse in. "I'm trying to use healing magic on the wound, but it does not appear to be working." She confessed.

She placed her hands on the gash in the center of the chest, healing magic flowing through but the gash was still not being mended.

Hope tried this time, but nothing was working. He tried esuna next.

Reks was still an emotionless husk. He began to grunt, and the two had to lean in close to hear him. "...bu...rns..."

"It's burning." Hope translated.

"Would water help?" Yuna asked.

Hope tried water, then ice. It was doing more damage to him than good. "Sh**." Hope swore to himself. "This is weird. The healing magic should have worked."

Yuna held Reks's head in her hands, wiping away tears from his wide eyes, and pushing back his hair. "Do you remember who did this to you?" She asked.

"...c...c...ca..."

"Is he trying to say Caius?" Hope asked.

A hum could be heard from Reks.

"He's in so much shock." Yuna confirmed.

Cloud reentered the clinic, "Snow was taken by Jecht." Cloud answered the unspoken question.

Yuna stood up. "Tidus's father?" She asked.

The blonde soldier nodded. Yuna glanced back over at Reks. He was slowly losing function. "You can't fix him?"

Yuna glared at Cloud's insensitive word choice.

"He's not responding to the healing magic." Hope said.

The nurse covered her face, she pulled Cloud aside and whispered to him. "I don't think he's going to make it."

Cloud sighed. "What do we suppose we do? End it?"

"No!" Yuna answered strongly. "We...we just have to pray."

Cloud rolled his eyes at her answer and left the clinic. "I'm sending in Va-"

Vaan bursted through the clinic and knelt beside Reks. "Reks?" He said. "It's me."

Reks was no longer able to speak, a trail of drool was beginning to stream out the corner of his mouth. Vaan grabbed a napkin and wiped his chin. Hope watched helplessly as Vaan was pleading for his brother's health, and Yuna had to step out for a minute for air.

Hope followed, giving Vaan space. He could see Noel holding a crying Serah, while Lightning was leaning against the side of the Theatre Building. She gestured for Hope to follow her.

He jogged passed a crying Serah, "You have a plan, Lightning? To rescue Snow?"

Lightning smirked. "I always have a plan."


End file.
